China, Belgium stage comeback wins in volleyball league

RIMINI, Italy - China and Belgium both came back from two sets down to clinch victories here on Monday in the 2021 women's Volleyball Nations League (VNL).

Two sets down and trailing at 24-20, reigning Olympic champion China was on the verge of elimination when the Chinese women rallied to save a set point to win and found forms back in the following two sets.

The dramatic game ended with China's 3-2 (20-25, 19-25, 27-25, 25-21, 15-9) victory. China's captain Zhang Changning and Germany's top scorer Hanna Orthmann both got the game's highest 23 points.

"In the third set we started to lose this control and China got back, they are a strong team," said Orthmann.

"It was not China playing very differently, it was our mistakes. We were not so aggressive anymore," she added.

Another five-set battle happened between Belgium and the Dominican Republic. The first set's score climbed to a remarkable high 33-31.

The third set became the turning point of the two sides' forms. Belgium, who had lost two sets, didn't let the Dominican led a single point after both sides tied at 5-5.

Belgium won the game 3-2 (31-33, 19-25, 25-20, 25-16, 15-11). The best scorer is Britt Herbots from the winner's side, who got an amazing 33 points.

"We were 2-0 behind and then we didn't lose our fighting spirit, we kept pushing and at the end it was 3-2 for us," said Herbots.

"Our fighting spirit was the most important, I was glad to see our team jumping around, all happy faces smiling even if it wasn't easy," she said.

Monday's games also saw Netherland bt Thailand 3-0 , Brazil defeated Japan 3-0, Turkey overcame Canada 3-2, Poland beat South Korea 3-0, the Unite States beat Serbia 3-0 and Russia beat Italy 3-0.