The Netherlands kept rolling Sunday with a 3-2 triumph over Olympic and World
Cup dual champion China to book a berth in the top eight of the 2006 women's
volleyball World Championships.
 China's Liu Yanan (C) spikes the ball
over Ingrid Visser (bottom R) and Chaine Staelens (bottom L) of the
Netherlands during their second round match at the FIVB women's Volleyball
World Championship in Osaka, western Japan, November 12,
2006.[Reuters]
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With the victory, the Netherlands
ranked third in the Group. While China, who ranked fourth, also advanced to the
top eight.
Top four teams could advance into the top eight of the World championships.
Downing the first two sets, the Netherlands, who kept a five-win three-loss
record in the tournament, played its best volleyball to beat China 21-25, 17-25,
25-23, 25-22, 15-12.
Chaine Staelens led the game with 28 points for the Netherlands, while Manon
Flier and captain Ingrid Visser added 20 and 17 respectively.
Losing the first two sets and falling behind 17-19 in the third, the
Netherlands launched a brilliant scoring trend with a 6-1 run to lead the game
and took one set back 25-23.
Tieing 5-5 in the fourth set, the Netherlands had a 4-1 run to take control
and never looked dangerous. After Li Shan of China had a fast-breaking attack to
make it 21-21, the Netherlands concluded the set with a 4-1 run and Staelens
scored the set points with a kill for the Netherlands with 25-22.
The match seemed frustrating for the Chinese, who squandered early leads, and
cut its deficit to 12-all in the deciding fifth set before a kill from Staelens
closed out the match.