China survived two match points to beat Russia 3-2 in a thrilling five-set clash, winning the Baxy Cup China International Women's Volleyball Tournament in Beijing Saturday evening with an unbeaten record.

 

The Chinese women beat Russia 25-12, 21-25, 25-23, 23-25 and 17-15 for their third straight victory in the four-team round-robin tournament.

 

Trailing 14-13 in the fifth set, China's Li Juan stood out to smash home a ball home, beating off the first match point. Russia then did China a favor by serving the ball out when leading 15-14. Inspired by the roaring audience, the Chinese women ran off two points in a row to take the decider at 17-15.

 

China started well with a 6-3 early lead in the first set but Russia never gave up before they pulled within 12-10. China then use a 7-0 rush to beat off Russia's comeback jumping to 19-10.

 

Russia had their scoring drought ended through a spike from Olga Fateeva. However, China stormed to 23-11 with a 4-0 run and sealed the set with 25-12.

 

The second was hotly contested as the two teams fought for tie many times. After 20-20, the Russian women sparkled with a four-point run to take the 24-20 lead. China withstood one set point but spiker Alexandra Pasynkova converted the next through a smash.

 

The Chinese women led 10-5 in the third set but the adamant Russians managed to stay within 18-17. The two teams then battled for tie from 18-all to 23-all before China scored twice to take the set at 25-23 for a 2-1 lead.

 

The fourth set proved to be a copy of the previous one. At 23-23, powerful Alexandra Pasynkova scored twice to force the decider.

 

Cuba finished second at the tourney with two wins against one loss, followed by the Netherlands and Russia in third and fourth respectively.

 

The final rankings are the repetition from the Beilun Cup China International Women's Volleyball Tournament held from May 26 to 28 in Ningbo, where the four teams started the two-stop competition.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2006)