China swept Cuba 3-0 to win the Beilun Cup China International Women's Volleyball Tournament yesterday with an unbeaten record in China's second largest port Beilun.

The Chinese women beat Cuba 25-23, 25-20 and 25-16 for their third straight victory in the four-team round-robin competition.

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

"It is the best game we played at this tournament," said China head coach Chen Zhonghe. "I am content with the fact that our players played consistently and we had better attack and made fewer unforced errors."

China conceded only eight points through errors, compared with 30 in Saturday's 3-1 win over Russia and 33 in Friday's 3-2 victory over the Netherlands.

Veteran spiker Yang Hao led the Chinese attack with 14 points while Wang Yimei and Zhou Suhong added 10 and nine respectively.

Cuba started well against the Olympic and World Cup double champion, jumping to a 4-1 lead in the first set. Yang Hao had a kill and a block to lead a 4-0 run that gave China the edge at 5-4.

After the two sides tied it at 12-all, China had a 5-1 run to make it 17-13. Yahima Oritz had a solid kill to pull Cuba within 24-23, but a serving mistake of Nancy Carrillo surrendered the opener to China.

The second set was much more easier for the host. The Chinese women pulled away with a 4-0 run for a 19-14 lead and never looked back.

The Cubans fought hard to tie it at 8-all early in the third set. However, they collapsed after China established a 19-15 lead on back of a 7-3 run.

"Facing the best team in the world, we made too many errors and failed to keep concentration through the match," said Cuba head coach Felipe Calderon.

China reaped 27 points from Cuba's errors.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2006)