JAKARTA, Aug. 25 -- With no surprise, the Chinese women's volleyball team clinched its fourth victory at the Asian Games, hammering Kazakhstan 25-14, 25-15, 25-11 here on Saturday.
To give more players the chance to gain experience at the Asiad, China coach Lang Ping made some changes to the starting lineup compared to the previous games, with young spiker Li Yingying and blocker Hu Mingyuan, libro Wang Mengjie and setter Yao Di among the starters for the first time here.
The Chinese team took a little time to adjust to the new lineup, leading 8-7 by the first technical timeout. After that, the team turned on fire and enlarged the margin to win the set 25-14.
The following two sets saw Kazakhstan completely outgunned in both attacking and blocking, with China sealing the victory 25-15 and 25-11.
China's Gong Xiangyu got 15 points to lead the game, including 10 spikes and 4 blocks. Zhu Ting, Yuan Xinyue, Li and Hu also scored double digits.
None of the Kazakhstan players scored in double figures.
"Today, our starters were mainly young players. Everyone of us fought with the highest spirit, and we won the game rather smoothly," said young spiker Li after the game.
Li added that she had a "normal" performance in attacking, but needed improvement in blocking.
Wang, who was also among the starters for the first time at the Asiad, said she felt nervous in the opening game but did better in later ones.
Although China have rather smooth victories in the group phase by now, Wang said that she expects tougher games later and the team would do their best to play every match.
"As for myself, I will just do my best every day," she said.
China will play India in their last group match on Monday.
With four victories in a row, China hold the first place in Asian Games Group B composing of China, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, Vietnam and India.
Group A composes of five teams including Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Hong Kong, China.
Top four teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals.