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US sweep China for World GP Finals semis
The United States swept defending champion China 25-23, 25-18 and 25-20 in Reggio Calabria of Italy on Thursday to secure their place in the semi-finals of the 2004 World Grand Prix Finals women's volleyball tournament. The Americans will play reigning world champions Italy on Friday in the last match of Pool A. Even if they lose the match 3-0, they can still qualify for the semis as top two finishers from Pool A due to super sets won-loss ratio. The Chinese women, who beat the United States 3-2 two weeks ago in the Hong Kong leg of the Grand Prix preliminaries, were not in shape. "It's a bad day for us, three to four players in our team struggled," said Chinese head coach Chen Zhonghe. "We had difficulties in serving and receiving and could not get our defense and offense going." China once led 19-14 in the first set, but the United States staged a 10-2 run to go up 24-21. The Chinese women pulled within 24-23 before Nancy Metcalf drove a ball out of bounds to clinch the opener for the Americans. The United States had no great difficulty taking the next two sets. "China did not play very well, but the victory is very important to us," said the United States' Japanese coach Yoshida Toshiaki. "The Olympics is coming and the victory boost our confidence." Logan Tom converted 16 of her 32 killing chances to lead the United States with 18 points, Prikeba Phipps added 15. The Chinese women were led by Yang Hao's 13 points. Also on Thursday, Cuba whitewashed Germany 25-20, 25-21 and 25-21 for its second straight win in Pool B plus a place in the semi-finals. Brazil, who suffered a stunning 3-2 defeat to Cuba on Wednesday, will clash with Germany on Friday to vie for a berth intop four. Six teams are competing in two groups in round-robin format with top two finishers from each group qualifying for the semi-finals. |
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