China beat Bulgaria for 4th straight win at women's volleyball worlds

SAPPORO, Japan, Oct. 3 -- China recovered from a sloppy start to edge Bulgaria 3-1 for their fourth straight win at the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship here on Wednesday.

The scores of the four sets were 22-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-17, respectively.

China's star spiker Zhu Ting got 21 points to lead the game. China's Yuan Xinyue, Gong Xiangyu and Yan Ni also scored in double digits. Bulgaria were led by Gergana Dimitrova with 18 points.

The two teams previously had five encounters at the World Championship, with China winning in straight sets in the last three ones.

China won all the three previous Pool B matches this year, while Bulgaria was defeated by Italy and Turkey and beat Cuba.

But the match Wednesday didn't start in China's favor, with Bulgaria building an early lead and China, despite their efforts, failed to catch up and lost the set 22-25.

In the second set, China managed to pull their acts together, and after a 22-22 tie, China got a point through a successful challenge, and then Yan Ni's block and Zhu Ting's kill helped China win 25-22.

In the following two sets, with Zhu Ting back on fire and Bulgaria making more mistakes, China sealed the victory 25-14 and 25-17.

"It was a really good game today. Bulgaria did well, especially in blocking and receiving. We learned a lot," said China coach Lang Ping after the game.

"We sent a lot of younger players to the court today and I hope the team will be able to improve," she added.

China will play Italy in their last Pool B match on Thursday. The two teams, both with four straight wins, will fight for the top spot of Pool B.