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Dalian, Northeast China, June 1, 2005 - The hosts China and Japan in Group A, and Cuba and the Netherlands in Group B cruised into the semifinals of the PetroChina KunLun Cup China International Women's Volleyball Tournament on the last day of the preliminary round here on Wednesday.

Olympic and World Cup winners China beat Poland in straight sets (25-14, 25-22, 27-25) for their third straight win, securing China a top finish in Group A.

After losing the first two sets, Poland rallied back to lead the Chinese 4-2 in the third set before China resumed their good form with crisp spiking and tight defence to tie the scores at 8-8. Both sides exchanged the lead several times until at 20-20, Poland jumped on two errors from China to make it 22-20. But the experienced Chinese reaped four points and a strong serve by Zhou Suhong gave the Chinese the crucial point, taking the set and the match 27-25.
Pic: Yaneva from Bulgaria beats the block from Cuba's Carrillo and Mesa
Chen Zhonghe, head coach of the Chinese team, said the aim of fielding young players in the competition was to give them more chance of gaining experience at the international level. On the whole, he was satisfied with their performance. Ma Yuwen, 19, and 1.89m high, has very good potential. She is tall and moves fast, which are qualities very crucial for blocking.

China plays the Netherlands in the semis who finished second in Group B after finishing ahead of Bulgaria on Tuesday.

In the other match of Group A, Japan also clinched a semifinal berth after defeating the Dominican Republic. Japan came back from a 2-1 deficit to win 3-2 (25-22, 19-25, 19-25, 25-14, 15-8) to set up a semifinal clash with Cuba, who beat Bulgaria 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-20) in Pool B.