Dominican Republic beat Thailand 3-1 here Friday afternoon for an opening victory at the China Women's Volleyball International Tournament.

The Asian champions started well in the first match of the four-team invitational tournament, jumping to a 6-0 lead in the first set thanks to a couple of fine spikes of the 1.67-meter Thipachot Kanika and a few mistakes of Dominican Republic.

Yonikaira Pena finally ended the scoring drought of Dominican Republic with a smart dink to spark a 4-0 run that pulled her side within 6-4.

Thailand held the lead to 15-12 before Dominican Republic staged another 4-0 run to overtake the lead at 16-15. Then the two sides traded leads to tie it at 23-all while Dominican Republic ran off two points in a row to clinch the opener at 25-23.

Dominican Republic continued their momentum to build a 6-2 advantage early in the second set. The Thais worked steadily to cut their deficit to 10-8, but Bethania De La Cruz answered with two kills in a row and a solid block against Kanika helped Dominican Republic enlarge their lead to 13-8.

Falling behind 22-13, Thailand managed to pull within 23-18 to force Dominican Republic head coach Marcos Kwiek to call a time-out. After the game resumed, Kanika scored another point for Thailand with a smart play to make it a four-point game, but Gina Mambru came back with a fine drop shot and De La Cruz drove a ball out off bounds to wrap up the set at 25-19.

Coming back with improved services and defense, Thailand dominated the third set as they established a 19-13 lead and went on to pull one set back at 25-16.

It was hotly contested early in the fourth set while Dominican Republic pulled away with a 6-1 burst to go up at 24-16. The Thais beat off four match points, but a serving mistake of Bamrungsuk Hattaya awarded the victory to Dominican Republic.

The host China will play Belgium later on Friday. Endi

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