China raise their level and beat the Dominican Republic for first place

Asian powerhouse China produced their best performance in the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship so far on Wednesday, when they concluded their undefeated pool play campaign with a sweep of the Dominican Republic.

Playing in Chiang Mai, the Chinese, who had dropped sets to both Mexico and Colombia in their previous matches, put together a strong display to dominate the ‘Queens of the Caribbean’ and secure a 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-17) victory in their last Pool C match.

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With the victory, the Chinese got to nine points and confirmed the top spot in the standings in Pool F, setting up a duel with France, who finished second in Pool C, in the Round of 16. Second with six points, the Dominicans will face Brazil, who topped their pool. Both matches will be held on Sunday, in Bangkok.

Wu Mengjie was China’s leading scorer with 16 points (15 kills, one block), one more than fellow outside hitter Zhuang Yushan, who registered 12 kills, two blocks and one ace. Middle blocker Wang Yuanyuan also got to double digits, tallying ten points with five kills and five blocks.

“I’m very excited about our team’s relentless effort today,” Wu commented. “We felt that we couldn’t play at our best in the first two matches. We prepared very well for today’s match and our performance was much better. I hope we can bring our best game again in the elimination rounds. We’re going to keep charging forward and taking it one step at a time.”

On the Dominican side, team captain and outside hitter Brayelin Martínez was the most productive with 15 points (13 kills, one block, one ace).

“They’re a very strong team, with very good fundamentals,” outside hitter Massiel Matos, who came off the bench and contributed seven points, explained. “We tried to push them as we did in the VNL, but they played very well today. Facing Brazil in the Round of 16 will be a really hard game. We’re going to try to push ourselves to play our best and hopefully get a win.”

Limiting their errors to only ten while the Dominicans produced 17 was one of the main positives for the Chinese, who outscored their opponents in kills (44 to 34) and blocks (13 to six). The Caribbean had the edge in aces, winning the service line battle by three to one.

2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship: full schedule and results

In the other match of the pool, Mexico overcame Colombia 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 25-18, 15-12) to exit the tournament with a victory and rank third in the pool with two points.

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