China lost to Italy 3-2 in the semifinals of the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in Yokohama on Friday in five sets 18-25, 25-21, 16-25, 31-29 and 15-17.
Italy's star blocker Paola Egonu scored 45 points to lead the game, while China was led by Zhu Ting with 26 points.
It was the second encounter between Italy and China in the tournament this year, with Italy beating China 3-1 early in the group stage.
In Friday's match, Italy was dominant most of the time in the opening set and settled home 25-18 on a spike by Cristina Chirichella.
China came back in the second set and after leading 16-15, two straight points enlarged the margin for China. Italy failed to turn the tide till the end and lost the set 21-25.
In the third set, China grabbed an early lead 4-1 and entered the first technical timeout 8-6. But a straight of six points with Lucia Bosetti as server put Italy back ahead 12-8, and despite China's efforts, Italy took the set 16-25 on an ace by Egonu.
The fourth set saw Italy lagging behind at first but manage to level the score 9-9. After a 19-19 tie, three straight points put Italy ahead, but China soon leveled and the two sides took turns to lead. After a 29-29 tie, Yan Ni's spike and Zhu Ting's direct kill after a successful challenge sealed the victory for China 31-29.
The tiebreaker was particularly intense, with the two sides grabbing each point as they could and tied from 1-1 to 12-12. With Chirichella's block and Egonu's ace, Italy got the match point at 14-12, but China leveled again 14-14. After a 15-15 tie, Egonu's two kills sealed the victory for Italy 17-15.
"It's a spectacular game. Congratulations to Italy," said China coach Lang Ping after the match.
On the loss, Lang said her team failed to capitalize on a few chances, especially in the third set. "We were leading in the third set but the opponents somewhat managed to turn the tide. We were a little anxious and made a few mistakes," Lang explained.
"Our players fought very hard. We have many players with potential and we will try to do better in blocks and counterattacks in the future," she added.
"The tournament is not over yet. We have one more game tomorrow, and we will do our best in that game," she said.
In another semifinal match earlier in the day, Serbia defeated the Netherlands 3-1 to advance to the final of the World Championship for the first time in history.
Serbia will play Italy in the final on Saturday, while China will fight the Netherlands for the third place.
