Yuan Xinyue (top) of China competes during the preliminary round competition of women's volleyball against Puerto Rico at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 10, 2016. China won Puerto Rico with 3-0. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)
World Cup winners China beat Puerto Rico in straight sets on Wednesday morning for their second straight win at the Rio Games women' s volleyball tournament.
Zhu Ting had 16 kills, three blocks and one ace to lead the Chinese women to the 25-20, 25-17 and 25-18 victory. Yuan Xinyue added nine points for China.
Puerto Rico, who had lost two matches in a row, started strongly against the medal favorites, building up a 14-11 advantage in the opening set through a monster block against Zhu Ting. Then Yuan Xinyue produced a pair of aces to help China overtake the lead at 18-16 on back of a 4-0 run. After that, the Chinese women took control of the match and Zhu clinched the set winner with a smash.
In the second and third set, China met no real resistance.
"We played a good match overall, but we were not quick enough to find our rhythm in the first set," said China coach Jenny Lang Ping.
Having a 2-1 win-loss record in hand, China will play Serbia in their third pool B match on Friday.
"Serbia is a very strong team and we will fight point by point," Jenny added.
Twelve teams are playing round robin preliminaries in two pools with top four finishers from each pool to qualify for the quarter-finals.
