Matera (Italy), July 31: Russia shook free of the United States to step within reaching distance of its second-straight World Grand Prix title in women's volleyball. In their first meeting of the tournament, Russia beat the United States in four sets 25-19 21-25 25-21 25-17.
The US team, which had been gunning to unseat top-ranked Russia, struggled to find its offensive footing under fire from Russians Ekaterina Gamova and Evguenia Artamonova, who combined for 42 points.
Tayyiba Haneef led the US attack with 18 points. With the loss, the United States drops to a 1-2 record in the round robin final, while Russia improves to a perfect 3-0.
China also improved to 3-0, beating Italy in four sets 25-22 23-25 25-15 25-20. Ruirui Zhao led all scoring with 21 points.
Italy remains winless at 0-3.
China, which lost to Russia in the preliminaries, is second in the overall rankings and will face Russia Sunday in the concluding match of the finals.
Also yesterday, the Netherlands rallied from two sets down to beat South Korea in five sets 18-25 23-25 25-21 25-20 22-20.
The tournament, which was scheduled to be held in Asia, was moved to Italy earlier this year because of fears about SARS.
Six teams - Italy, Russia, China, South Korea, the Netherlands and the United States - are competing in the tournament's round robin final.
The winner gets a US$1million cash prize. Bureau Report