CONTINENTAL powers China and Japan remain unscathed in their respective groups after posting contrasting wins in the AVC Cup for Women at the Philsports Arena.

The Chinese overcame a tough Vietnam stand to fashion out a 25-12, 25-6, 29-31, 21-25, 15-12 victory to improve to 2-0 in Pool A, while the Japanese earned its second win in Pool B following a 25-22, 25-22, 25-22 tripping of Chinese-Taipei.

Southeast Asian queens Thailand, bouncing back from its opening day loss to Japan, carved out a 25-9, 27-25, 25-13 win over Australia to even its record to 1-1.

In the other Pool A match, Iran debuted with a 25-10, 25-15, 25-13 win over South Korea.

Bracing for tonight’s 7 p.m. match-up with China, the Philippines, which gave Vietnam fits before dropping a 19-25, 17-25, 29-31 decision in the Pool A opener, will have Jia de Guzman back after the veteran setter reported cleared health and safety protocols.

De Guzman, one of the vital cogs of Creamline’s back-to-back Premier Volleyball League’s title runs this year, trained with the team yesterday morning.

The Chinese squandered a two-set lead and a 9-5 lead in decider before the five-time champions regained composure in the endgame to seize to top of the Pool A table.

The Vietnamese, who displayed tremendous composure in the third to extend, dropped to 1-1.

Flashing their dominant attacks and blocks, the Chinese held the Vietnamese to a combined 18 points in the first two sets.

Zhou Yetong had four blocks for a 27-point outing, while Zhuang Yushan contributed 21 kills, including the match-clincher that closed out the two-hour, 21-minute contest.

China also drew huge games from Wu Mengjie, who had 17 points, and Hu Mingyuan, who also recorded four blocks to finish with 16 points.

Thi Nhu Quynh Vi led Vietnam with 14 points, while Thi Thanh Thuy Tran and Thi Nguyet Anh Pham each had 13 points.

Yuki Nishikawa took the scoring mantle for Japan for the second straight match with 11 kills, including eight in the first set, while Miyu Nakagawa had three blocks and two service aces for a nine-point outing.

The Japanese overcame a sluggish third set start with offensive adjustments, closing out the one-hour, 45-minute contest with a Mizuki Tanaka kill.

“It’s kinda hard for us to get on our own pace but at the end, we were able to play our volleyball. That was really nice,” said Japan setter Mika Shibata through an interpreter.

Tanaka and Asuka Hamamatsu also gave significant contributions for the Japanese, producing nine kills.

Japan, which also beat Thailand in straight sets in last Sunday’s opener, will have a two-day rest before playing Australia on Thursday as the Asian powerhouse seeks to complete a three-match sweep of Pool B.

“We are getting better and better, little by little. We got to play our volleyball. The fact that we are winning two games in a row, that’s great,” said Shibata, who tallied three attacks and an ace.

Chang Li-Wen led the Taiwanese with 16 points while Lin Shu-Ho added 10 points.

Pimpichaya Kokram nearly matched the Volleyroos’ offensive output in the opening set, scoring eight of her 16 points to power the Thais to a straight set romp.

“We don’t know about the Australian game. We don’t know about them, about the spiker,” said setter Pornpun Guedpard, who had a important meeting after last Sunday’s straight set loss to the Japanese. “We had to talk about how to play the system of the Thailand team first. Thai first everything today, that’s why we win.”

The Volleyroos, who in their first international competition in more than two and a half years had only three returnees from this AVC Cup for Women edition, were led by Caitlin Tippin with 11 points.

Aytak Salamatharamaleki had two blocks and two service aces to finish with 11 points while Elahe Poor Saleh Shadehsari chipped in 10 points, including two blocks for the Iranians.

“We are happy about this result. We played good in this match,” said Mahsa Kadkhoda, the Iran captain who finished with six points.