In this photo released by the Asian Volleyball Confederation on its official Facebook page, a member of the Chinese women's volleyball team hits a return during a match against Japan at the 22nd Asian Women's Volleyball Championship in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

BANGKOK - China rallied to edge defending champions Japan with an epic 23-25, 25-20, 19-25, 26-24, 16-14 victory at the Asian Women's Volleyball Championship in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand on Monday.

Neither Japan nor China had previously dropped a set, and both had already secured berths in the final four ahead of their encounter on Monday.

Japan, winners of the past two tournaments, fended off China's late efforts to take the first set 25-23. China leveled the scores at 25-20, while Japan again had the upper hand in the third set and won 25-19.

The fourth set was closely contested and saw several ties on the way to 22-22 and 24-24. Then China picked things up to win two points in a row and force the tiebreaker at 26-24.

Leading 14-12 in the fifth set, Japan was one point away from the win, only to see a resilient China bounce back to score four consecutive points to secure the victory.

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China, who have a perfect record so far, face Vietnam in the semifinal, while Japan vie for a final berth against hosts Thailand.