China back to losing ways against Dominican Republic at Volleyball Nations League Hong Kong
Chinese go down against opponents they had beaten in past five matches, while defending champions Italy win from 0-2 down against Canada
China lost their second match at the Volleyball Nations League on Saturday night when they went down 3-1 to a desperate Dominican Republic side in a hard-fought encounter at Kai Tak Arena.
Despite this defeat in their penultimate preliminary match to a Dominican team ranked 15th out of 18 competing nations, China had already secured a spot in the finals as hosts and will feature in the coming games in Macau later this month.
China held a 6-4 record after 10 VNL rounds, while the Dominicans entered with a dismal 2-8 record but had just temporarily escaped the relegation zone after beating Ukraine 3-2 in the previous round.
China had previously beaten the Caribbean side five times in the World Championships, but they could not afford to be complacent with captain and opposite hitter Gong Xiangyu playing through injury, and key players Li Yingying and Wu Mengjie absent.
Returning from a rest day after winning one match and losing the other, the hosts scored the opening point of the match, but dropped the first set 25-22.
The momentum shifted at the start of the second set. After trading points to 6-6, China built a three-point lead and largely maintained their advantage.