China beats Poland 3-2, Brazil sweeps Thailand 3-0 at volleyball World GP

MACAO, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese team opened the 2009 FIVB World Grand Prix Macao leg on a high note, beating Poland 3-2 at the Macao Forum here on Friday night.

The Poland team rallied from one set down to lead the game at 2-1, but the Chinese girls came home 25-19, 25-27, 24-26, 25-14, 15-12 on their fifth match points.

Wang Yimei of China scored 28 points to led the game while Ma Yunwen and Xue Ming each added 17.

"Both sides played well today. Poland gave us great pressure by their serving and attacking. It is lucky that our players changed the trend in the fourth and fifth set," said Cai Bin, head coach of the Chinese team.

"We have many young girls on this team and I am sure that they will learn a lot from this match," he added.

The game started in a leisurely manner as China launched a 6-0 run after led one-point advantage at 18-17 and took the first set easily.

But the game quickly developed into a fast and hard-hitting encounter. In the second set, Bednarek Agnieszka scored three points in a row to make the Poland team lead at 21-15 and maintained the lead into 25-24.

After saving two game points, Hui Ruoqi's spiking was blocked and Poland leveled the game at 1-1.

Poland kept up the good work at serving and wrap up the third set at 26-24.

Joanna Kaczor had 26 points for Poland, while Anna Baranska had17, Agnieszka Bednarek 11.

With setter Wei Qiuyue in the starting line-up again in the forth set, China fought back to build a 14-9 lead and held on for the victory at 25-14.

The Chinese side rallied to a brilliant start in the deciding set as led by Wang Yimei, China had a 6-1 run to lead at 9-5 and on their way to 14-8.

Poland saved four match points and forced Cai Bin to call twice timeout, but they could not managed to the fifth as Xue Ming secured the 15-12 victory for China with a spike from middle of the net.

"It is pity we lost the game, especially we lost the deciding fifth set, it could be much better," said Aleksandra Jagielo, captain of Poland.

Early on Friday, Beijing Olympic champion Brazil crushed Thailand 3-0.

It took Brazil 66 minutes to the 25-14, 25-17 and 25-11 win and grasped the opening victory in Macao.

"It is a hard game," said Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai, head coach of Thailand. "We made many mistakes and we are not satisfied about that. Brazil get many points from that."

Steinbrecher Marianne scored a game-high 14 points for Brazil while Pereira Natalia and Castro Sheilla both had nine. Sittirak Onuma led the Thailand team with eight points.

"Thailand play hard today, they are moving fast and it is hard for us to block," Brazil's head coach Jose Roberto Guimaraes said.

There are four teams competing in the Macao leg.