China defeated Italy in a full-set thriller for the second straight win in the FIVB Grand Prix Finals at the Beilun Sports and Arts Center, east China's Ningbo yesterday.

The hosts, whose three matches were all dragged into tie break in the finals, scored the 25-23, 19-25, 25-22, 24-26 and 15-12 victory over Italy in two hours, improving their record to 2-1 at the six-team round robin event slated for Aug 22-26.

However, the European team still dominated China, winning five out of seven previous encounters against China since 2005 and the latest triumph came from this year's Grand Prix preliminary round on August 12 at Hong Kong, China, where Italy outlasted China 3-2.

Led by spiker Li Juan, China started strongly with a 3-0 lead in the first set, while skipper Manuela Secolo opened the account for Italy.

Chinese veterans Zhou Suhong and Yang Hao contributed enough points to keep pressure over Italy and helped China lead 8-6 at the first TTO.

While Taismary Aguero and Martina Guiggi popped up on the wingsto score some sizzling shots, boosting Italy to 16-15 at the second TTO and eventually making it at 18-15 after an ace from Guiggi.

At 22-21, Yang spiked and then scored an ace behind the servingline, helping China overtake the lead at 23-22 before the hosts converted on the first set point to scramble through at 25-23.

Inspired by a rampant Yang, who popped up on the left to strike some spectacular kills, China kept the scoring momentum in the second set and jumped to 8-6 at the first TTO.

Aguero was just in a class of her own, spiking efficiently on the right and from the back court for a 11-all tie.

China then had to dig deep to catch up with the Italian team on each point, but Aguero turned out to be the most threatening weapon, scoring on each corner from the court to secure a 25-19 win for Italy.

It was China again that led into the first TTO at 8-6 in the next set, and this time the Chinese girls never let it go and tookthe set 25-22 after fighting off a late comeback from Italy.

But the momentum swerved all of a sudden at the start of the fourth set, with Italy racing up to a 8-4 lead.

The Chinese girls showed battling qualities later to stage a 8-4 run, tying the match at 12-all.

The match got tense as it was tied several times until 23-all. Spiker Sun Xiaoqing's long serve cost one match point created by a Ma Yunwen flirt. Italy reeled off the last two points to take the set at 26-24.

A fierce Chinese team made a 6-3 early lead in the tie break and never looked back en route to the 15-12 triumph.

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2007)