China routs the Philippines to reach the last four

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China hammered the Philippines in straight sets on Wednesday night to advance to the semifinals at the Asiad women's volleyball competition.

With no surprise, the Chinese Olympic champions dominated the game against the Philippines who had entered the quarterfinals as No. 4 of Group A.

The scores of the three sets were 25-15, 25-9 and 25-7, respectively.

China opened the first set 8-3. A string of eight points with Yan Ni as server enlarged the margin to 18-6. Then Li Yingying replaced Gong Xiangyu as second setter to help the team end the set 25-15.

The second set saw the Chinese team in better form, with the Philippines offense limited by blockers Yuan Xinyue and Yan Ni. China ended the set 25-9.

In the third set, the Philippines only got seven points, though China's star spiker Zhu Ting and blocker Yan Ni were kept on the bench.

Chinese supporters unfurl a banner cheering on China's women's volleyball team at the Asian Games, August 29. /VCG Photo

"China are (is) a very strong team. We have learnt a lot from them," said Philippine coach Cesael delos Santos after the match.

"For us, we need to improve our team and gain more experiences, especially from this kind of tournament," he said.

"Then in our next match, hopefully we will do a good job," he added.

"We attached importance to every opponent," said Li Yingying, who played as second setter instead of spiker against the Philippines.

"As a young player, sometimes we may not be patient enough. I hope I can adjust myself to play every game patiently," said 18-year-old Li.

In three other quarterfinal games on Wednesday, Thailand beat Vietnam 3-0, Japan defeated Kazakhstan 3-0, and South Korea won over Indonesia 3-0.

China is to play Japan and South Korea is to play Thailand in the semifinals on Friday.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency