Bari, Italy, September 24, 2014 – China beat Azerbaijan 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-17) here Wednesday morning for their second straight pool D victory at the FIVB Women's Volleyball World Championship.
Key points:
· China had 5 service points to Azerbaijan’s one.
· China won their last World Championship encounter with Azerbaijan, beating them 3-1 in 2006.
· Zeng Chunlei and Hui Ruoqi were the top scorers in the match with 14 points.
· Azerbaijan had only 4 block points to China's 15.
· China have lost seven of their last eight World Championship matches against CEV teams. Their only win in this streak came against Poland (3-0) in the 2010 second round.
Azerbaijan had an early advantage after an error by China (3-4). But Lang Ping's team cut the deficit with two Polina Rahimova's errors and a block (7-4). A reception error by Odina Bayramova (11-5) and Yang Junjing's fast forced coach Chervyakov to call a timeout (20-10). A soft lob of Zhu Ting awarded the first set to China (25-13).
China again came out strong at the start of the second set. Thanks to great defensive work, they moved three points ahead (7-4). A block of Zeng held a four-point advantage at the second TTO (16-12). After Rahimova's error, coach Chervyakov called a timeout (18-12). The set was dominated by China. After a miraculous save, Yang took the last point for China (25-16).
In an even opening to the third set, the Caucasian team had difficulty defending the Chinese spikers. Zeng gave them an 8-5 lead. Azerbaijan did not give up and pulled it back at 9-9. China responded with an ace and a pipe of Zeng (13-10) to make it 16-11 at the second technical timeout. A service error by Parkhomenko brought the match to an end (25-17).