GUANGZHOU, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- China delighted home fans by sweeping past Chinese Taipei 25-10, 25-18, 25-19 here on Wednesday at the Asian Games women's volleyball quarter-finals.
With the lop-sided victory, the Chinese team set up a semifinal clash with DPR Korea, who defeated Thailand 25-23, 17-25, 27-25, 7-25 and 15-12.
"It is a surprise that DPR Korea defeated Thailand, we made a lot of preparations for the match against Thailand, and now we have to change our plan," said China's coach Yu Juemin.
Li Juan had 15 points to lead the game, all came from spikes. Middle blocker Xue Ming added nine.
China went 9-1 up at the first set before surging ahead to 16-7 as China's high-flying spikes proved too much for Chinese Taipei. Leading at 18-9, the Chinese kept cool and eventually took the set by a chain of sharp attacks with a 6-1 run.
With Li and Xue consistent in attacking, China led throughout the second set while the Chinese Taipei team struggled at the net, committing too many errors. China clinched the set 25-18 after Liao Wanju from Chinese Taipei sent a serve into the net.
In the third set, Chinese Taipei could not find a solution to the prolific Li and had difficulty penetrating the Chinese blocking wall. After Li took China into the second technical time out with a kill at 16-11, the match went beyond doubt.
In an other quarterfinal on Wednesday, South Korea beat Japan 25-16, 25-22, 25-15 to cruise into the semifinal. Their opponent next match will be Kazakhstan, who blanked Mongolia 25-18, 25-8 and 25-12.
