Russia beat hosts China 3-0 Sunday in Chengdu in the last match of the first leg of the Women Volleyball Grand Prix running from Friday to Sunday, and finished first of the leg with three wins.
In the one-hour match, the Russians fully took advantage of their superiority in height and strength, and cruised to the straight-set win, 25-19, 25-19, 25-22.
Despite several errors in service, every Russian player made powerful and spinning attacking serve from the beginning of the match to the end, totally ruining the first passes of their Chinese opponents who could not launch any effective fast attacks.
The Chinese players failed to exert any pressure on the taller Russians in the net play and found no way to break through the high-wall-like blocks.
Although China upset Cuba and the United States in straight sets, the team did not play well today. Statistics for the China-Cuba and China-US matches showed that the weakest point of the Chinese team is the service, and it was paid off this evening.
In today's duel, the Chinese service did not give any threat to the Russian first passes, conceding too many chances to the Russians who could unleash any kinds of attacks as they like.
Before the Russia-China match, the United States beat Cuba 3-1.
China finished second of the Prix first leg with two wins and one loss, followed by the United States with one win and two defeats, and Cuba without a single win in the three matches.
Russia, China, the United States and Cuba have competed in the first leg of the Grand Prix and the finals of the Prix will be held in China's Hong Kong in August.
(People's Daily July 15, 2002)
