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OSAKA, Japan, Sept. 28-- The entire Chinese team gathered in a circle for a brief celebration that looked more like a formality than an emotional outcry. With the spike by Katrina Lazovic called out, China successfully defended their title with one game to spare as they defeated Serbia 3-0 here on Saturday to record their 10th consecutive win at the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup. "Firstly, this competition hasn't ended yet, so I didn't feel like celebrating too much today. Secondly, we have won many games recently, so this is sort of getting normal and I'm kind of getting used to it," head coach Lang Ping explained for her composure after the win. Star spiker Zhu Ting had the game-high 18 points in the 25-14, 25-21, 25-16 victory, followed by Zhang Changning, who contributed 16 points, including three kill blocks where China bested Serbia 10-2. Tournament leading scorer Ana Bjelica scored 15 points for the European side. "I think we are a better team now because every one of us has made progress," Zhu told Xinhua, adding that she preferred to celebrate after the last match on Sunday. With a perfect 9-0 record prior to the match, China will lift the World Cup one round in advance should they triumph over the reigning world champions, which dispatched a young squad to Japan. After a close start, Zhu had five points in China's 8-1 run for a 13-8 lead. After an error by Ding Xia in her sixth serving in a row, Zhang added another five points to initiate a 9-2 surge for China before the world No.2 comfortably took the first set 25-14. | 
