China and Cuba opened their Beilun Cup women's volleyball tournament campaigns on a winning note Wednesday. Yet, in totally different fashion.

Reigning Olympic champion China crushed the Netherlands in straight sets, while the Cubans fought back from 2-0 down in sets to outlast the Dominican Republic in a five-set thriller.

The Chinese proved too strong for their European rivals and took the first two sets comfortably, 25-16 and 25-18.

The Dutch women refused to give in and stepped up pressure in the third set. A number of unforced errors on the Dutch side, however, allowed China to close out it at 26-24.

"We did a good job in serving, which put a lot of pressure on our opponents," said Chinese head coach Chen Zhonghe.

Dutch coach Avital Selinger echoed Chen's view, saying that his team could find no answers to China's strong serving and therefore played inconsistently.

China had a total of seven service aces, four from Sun Xiaoqing, who made her first international appearance in the starting line-up.Sun also had 11 spikes in her 15-point haul.

Flier Manon was the leading scorer for the Dutch team with 11 points.

Earlier in the day, the Dominican Republic squandered a two-set lead to lose to Cuba 25-23, 25-22, 23-25, 20-25, 18-20.

Despite the hard-fought victory, Cuban coach Perdomo Estrella Antonio didn't hide his dissatisfaction with his team. "Although we won the match, my team were very inconsistent. We have to work in this area," he said.

The Dominicans controlled the early stages of the match against a strangely subdued Cuba.

But the Cubans can never be written off, and Calerdon Diaz Rosir (17 points, 14 spikes) and Yumilka Ruiz Luaces (16 points, 13 spikes) led the response as they rallied to claim the next two sets.

Lead changes were the theme of the fifth set, as both teams battled hard for the decider. Cuba set up a 13-10 lead before the Dominicans surged back ahead 16-15, but was unable to finish off the Cubans. Leading at 19-18, Cuba eventually emerged the winners after Rosir jumped from the left to smash a kill.

Rosir led the Cuban with 17 points, and Milagros Cabral De La Cruz top-scored for the Dominican Republic with 21 points.

On Thursday, The Netherlands takes on Cuba and China faces the Dominican Republic.

(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2007)