China suffered their first loss at the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship after being defeated by Italy 3-1 here on Thursday, while four more teams made the final cut for the second round of the tournament.
The four teams are Mexico from Pool A, Bulgaria from Pool B, and the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico from Pool D.
In Pool B, China lost to Italy 25-20, 24-26, 16-25, 20-25.
Italy's star blocker Paola Egonu scored the game high of 29 points, while Miryam Sylla and Lucia Bosetti also scored in double figures. Zhu Ting took the team high of 20 points for China.
"I think we did well in general, especially in the first two sets. We had a few chances in the second set, but we failed to capitalize them," said China coach Lang Ping after the game.
"In the last two sets, the Italians were on fire, and their serves destroyed our attacks," said Lang, adding that the team needs more attacking power besides Zhu Ting.
The match was intense from the very beginning. Italy built on an early lead and entered the first technical timeout 8-7, a string of four straight points helped China turn the tide 11-8. China took the lead for the rest of the set, and sealed the victory 25-20 with a superb spike by Zhu Ting.
The second set was even intenser. Italy took an 8-5 lead at the first technical timeout, but three smashes by Zhu brought China level at 10. The two sides took turns to lead and after a 24-24 tie, Sylla's spike and Chirichella's block sealed the victory for Italy.
In the following two sets, Italy were on fire, and in face of Italy's efficient blocks and strong attacks, China failed to respond well and lost at 16-25 and 20-25.
In other Pool B matches earlier in the day, Bulgaria beat Canada 3-1 to win the last ticket of Pool B to the second round, while Cuba, already out with four previous losses, lost to Turkey 3-1.
In the Pool A games held in Yokohama, the Netherlands extended their winning streak by beating Mexico 3-0, but Mexico still managed to advance to the next round as Argentina trounced Cameroon in straight sets, lifting Mexico to the fourth place. Host Japan defeated Germany in straight sets, both having already booked the tickets to the next round.
In the Pool C matches in Kobe, reigning champions the United States edged Russia 3-2 for their fifth straight win, Thailand defeated Azerbaijan 3-1, and in an match for honor, South Korea defeated Trinidad and Tobago 3-0.
In the Pool D matches held in Hamamatsu, Puerto Rico lost to Serbia 3-0, practically handing one of their rivals The Dominican Republic the ticket to the next round. But the Dominican Republic soon returned the favor by shutting out Kenya 3-0 and helped Puerto Rico to gain the last Pool D ticket to the second round. Brazil hammered the already-out Kazakhstan 3-0.
The 16 teams that qualified for the second round of the tournament will play in two groups. Pool E featuring Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico and Serbia will play in Nagoya, while Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Italy, Russia, Thailand, Turkey and United States will compete in Pool F in Osaka.
The second round of the tournament will be held from Oct. 7 through 11.
