China win back-to-back women's volleyball matches at Military Games

WUHAN - China's women volleyball players defeated Brazil 3-0 to register their second win in a row at the 2019 Military World Games here on Thursday.

Li Yingying had a game-high 18 points in China's 25-17, 25-16, 25-21 win, while captain Liu Yanhan added 14. Juulin Amanda led the Brazilian attacking line with nine points.

Brazil had a close 8-6 lead in the opening minutes, but China won five points in a row to turn the tables 12-9 and maintained their advantage to clinch the first set 25-17.

Down by 2-0 after a 25-16 loss in the following set, Brazil gained better form in the third set and headed into the second technical timeout 16-13 ahead. However, China surged ahead 20-17 with a 7-1 run and claimed the final set 25-21.

China will play their last group game on Sunday against Canada, who withstood a challenge by the United States to win 3-2 (25-23, 20-25, 25-18, 19-25, 21-19). Kara Stephan had a game-high 22 points for Canada, including eight from serve, where Canada outperformed the US 17-7.

"We are very excited to play against them. We watched their last game, so it's going to be a really fun game for us, especially playing against China at home," 22-year-old Stephan said.

In Pool B, with 10 players scoring points, the DPRK eased past France 25-9, 25-10, 25-14 to lead the pool with a 2-0 win record. Captain Sina Kostorz had 17 points to lead Germany to a 25-18, 25-13, 27-25 triumph over the Netherlands.

"It was very tough. We know they can play volleyball, and they can play good volleyball. They served better, they attacked better, and we were a little lower than before, and we got quiet," Kostorz commented on almost losing the third set. "But we realized that we can make it. We were fighting, and now we did it and that's great."

Germany will face France on Sunday while the DPRK will fight for their third straight win against the Netherlands.