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OSAKA, Japan, Oct. 10-- China swept reigning champions the United States 25-17, 26-24, 25-18 here on Wednesday to book a ticket to the third round of the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship. Amid loud cheers from spectators at the Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasium, the world's top-ranked team hammered their opponents in straight sets. Captain Zhu Ting led her team with 19 points, including 17 spikes, while Gong Xiangyu and Yan Ni also racked up double-digit scores. The United States only had one player who could achieve a double digit points tally. China and the United States previously had seven encounters at the World Championships, with China losing four, including a 3-1 loss to the United States in the final of the 2017 tournament. But China was on fire on Wednesday and remained dominant throughout the match. They built an early lead 3-0 in the first set and entered the first technical time-out with the score at 8-4. Though the United States managed to narrow the gap to trail 15-17, China, scoring a series of straight points when Ding Xia was server, settled the set 25-17. In the second set, China continued to dominate, but the United States managed to first level the score 21-21, and then save a set point to tie 24-24. Then after a spectacular spike by Yan Ni, Jordan Larson fired wide to hand China the set at 26-24. The desperate United States failed to turn the tide in the third set, and China entered the second technical timeout with the score at 16-11 and eventually sealed the set and victory 25-18. | 
