China crashed out of the 2025 FIVB Women's Volleyball World Championship on Sunday with a 3-1 defeat to France in the round of 16, losing 25-20, 27-25, 22-25, 25-20.

China struggled with errors in attack in the opening set, quickly falling behind 9-3. Head coach Zhao Yong called two early timeouts and brought on Li Xinying and Tang Xin, but despite some improvement, his team could not close the gap and lost the first set 25-20.

Zhang Zixuan (L) and Gao Yi of China compete during the round of 16 match between China and France at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in Bangkok, Thailand, Aug. 31, 2025. (Xinhua/Hou Zhaokang)

The second set saw China recover and earn two set points at 24-22 after a spike from Li Yingying. France, however, responded with strong blocking to overturn the score and edge the set 27-25.

"Our offense was heavily curtailed by France. They are a very complete team with tall blocking and powerful jump servers, which gave us a lot of trouble," said Chinese captain Gong Xiangyu.

China stayed alive in the third set as a service run by 17-year-old setter Zhang Zixuan helped open a lead before closing it out 25-22.

But France, led by captain Helena Cazaute, who finished with a match-high 23 points, dominated the decisive moments of the fourth. With the score tied at 14-14, Cazaute's serving gave her side the advantage, and the French held firm to close the set 25-20 and secure victory.

"It was not easy to beat China, but we did it. We had a bad moment in the third set, but the team was helping each other. We won 3-1 and I can be only proud of what we did today," said Cazaute.

The win sends France into the quarterfinals of the World Championship for the first time. "We don't want to just stop in the quarterfinal. We want to see what we are able to do," she added.

For China, the early exit marks a step back from 2022, when the team reached the quarterfinals.

"We all tried our best today," said Gong. "Although we lost today, we can tell from the match that we have a lot of room to improve in the future."