Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, October 6, 2008 -- China beat the host side Thailand in straight sets 25-18, 25-23, 25-14 in 65 minutes in the second semifianls at the inaugural Asian Wome’s Cup Volleyball Championship here on Monday.

In the more thrilling tussle between China and Thailand , home fans cheered on their team lustily all the way. Still, the host squad found the gritty visitors too strong.

In the first set, the home girls, boosted by boisterous home supporters, uncorked a series of sharp spikes from Wilavan Apinyapong and Onuma Sittirak and scintillating blocks from Pleumjit Thinkaow and Malika Kanthong to lead briefly 8-6.

On some critical moments, fast spiker Liu Yanan injured her right shoulder and was replaced by experienced Zhou Suhong, who won the best receiver award at the Beijing Olympic Games. China stormed back mightily from then on, with devastating Wang Yimei puncturing the Thai defence into pieces with her deadly spikes to the back court. China snatched the first set as expected 25-18.

The second set became more exciting as leads changed hands for several times. After a few smashes, China took the nail-biting 19-18 lead. Wang and Xue Ming were the principals for the China’s strong comeback as Wang’s spikes went unanswered and Xue effectively overcame the smaller blockers. China took the hotly-contested set 25-23.

The third set was completely dominated by China when home players became more prone with spiking and serving mistakes. The visitors easily clinched the set 25-14 and the match.

“We played well only in the first two sets. The Chinese blocking is very exceptional, foiling our attempts to fight back. However, when obtaining scoring chances, we committed unforced errors,”Thai head coach Natapon Srisamutnak commented after the match.

“In some critical moments, we produced error-filled serves. However, I praised my girls for doing so despite the fact that they made service mistakes. This is because if we could not press them with aggressive jump serves, we would have no attacking opportunities. It’s more than three years already that we could not win a single set from China .

“Though going down to China , I’‘m still happy with my girls form. It’s a pity they made too many mistakes in the third set. I confess that we have no match against them in the set. In the third-place play-off against Japan, I admit that their first-ball reception is very impressive. We have to avoid making any unforced mistakes. I am still convinced that we can beat Japan to take the third place in the tournament,” The Thai coach added.