Hong Kong, July 13 -- Italy held off China 3-2 here to finish second in the women's Volleyball Nations League (VNL) preliminaries.
With the 25-19, 21-25, 22-25, 25-12 and 15-12 victory in one hour and 59 minutes on Sunday, the Olympic and world champion stood behind the United States with 28 points from 10 wins and two losses.
As star spiker Paola Ogechi Egonu was rested for the most of the match, the Italians were led by Ekaterina Antropova's 28 points. Sarah Luisa Fahr, Myriam Fatime Sylla and Stella Nervini added 16, 15 and 13 points respectively.
Li Chenxuan came from the bench to score a team-high 19 points for the Chinese team, which was outspiked by Italy 74-60.
The United States beat Brazil 26-24, 25-22 and 25-16 in Osaka, Japan...