China beats debutant Belgium in FIVB World Grand Prix Finals 2014

China defeated Belgium 3-1 (25-19, 25-27, 25-18, 25-15) in the opening match of the FIVB World Grand Prix women's volleyball tournament held Wednesday in Tokyo's Ariake Coliseum.

Zeng Chunlei led China with 19 points, while Rousseaux Helene scored 23 for her team. China also led the block with 10-9 and the service points with 4-3 against the tournament's debutant.

China took the lead in the first set and scored five points after Belgium got their first point, forcing Belgium coach Gert Vande Broek to call a timeout. Belgians were not themselves by the second technical timeout as China came big with a 10-0 lead. China finally took the set with 25-19.

The two sides played tight during the second set trading spikes. Broek called a timeout with his team two points behind at 22-20 and forced China's coach Lang Ping to call a timeout when the score was leveled at 23-23. Belgium earned a setpoint when they blocked Li, but China captain Zeng made a nice tipover to level the score again.

Belgium had a second setpoint with a spike by Rousseaux. Frauke Dirickx then sent a serve down that China couldn't deal with to clinch the set.

At the beginning of the third set, the Belgians played well as they scored three straight and forced China to call a timeout when the score was 5-6. Two Belgium errors and a big shot by 17-year-old Yuan Xinyue opened up a gap between the two teams as China took a three-point lead at 11-8. China then stretched their lead to eight points before Belgium recovered to 22-17. The set ended with a whimper as Charlotte Leys hit successive shots wide to put China 2-1 up.

Errors by Belgium allowed China to take a three-point lead at the first technical timeout. Belgium called a timeout at 18-10, but it was too late to change the course of the set. A thumping serve by Yang Junjing earned matchpoint and a Belgium error gave the winning to China.

On Wednesday, Turkey will play defending champion Brazil, while host Japan will contest Russia.