QINHUANGDAO, China, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Beijing overcame the reigning champions Shanghai in a five-set thriller in the third round of the 2020-21 season of the Chinese men's volleyball league here on Wednesday.
In the highly-anticipated match between the two favorites, Beijing maintained its momentum to outlast Shanghai 3-2 (25-16, 28-30, 25-20, 20-25, 15-8).
Beijing's Jiang Chuan scored a game-high 22 points, while Zhang Binglong and foreign player Uros Kovacevic pocketed 18 and 17 points respectively.
After a balance start, Beijing jumped to a four-point lead to widen the gap and won the first set 25-16.
In the second set, Beijing had slight advantage to take the lead from the beginning. Shanghai who compete with an all-Chinese squad fought back hard to tie the game 10 times and packed the victory by 30-28.
The third set saw both sides trade the lead several times until Beijing scored four points in a row to fortify the advantage.
The two teams tied 2-2 after Shanghai nailed down the fourth set and dragged the game into the tiebreaker. Beijing won the decisive fifth set with nine spikes and two blocks.
In other actions, Guangdong eased past Hubei 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-21) for its third straight win, and Henan swept past Liaoning 3-0 (25-7, 25-22, 25-14). Enditem
