BRASILIA, May 22 (Xinhua) -- China suffered their second defeat in two days at the FIVB women's Volleyball Nations League, losing to Russia 3-1 here on Wednesday.

In the absence of star spikers Zhu Ting, Yuan Xinyue and Ding Xia, Liu Yanhan converted on 15 of her 46 attacking opportunities, contributing 17 points in China's 25-22, 16-25, 25-16, 25-23 defeat.

Zeng Chunlei added 14 points for China while Hu Mingyuan contributed nine points through three kills, five stuffs and an ace.

Four Russians finished with double digit scores, with Tatiana Iurinskaia scoring a game-high 17 points.

The Dominican Republic beat Brazil in four sets in Wednesday's other match in Brasilia to record their second straight win, while the hosts now have one victory and one defeat under their belts.

16 teams are playing in the women's VNL preliminary round, with the top five teams at the end of the preliminaries to join hosts China for July's finals, which will be held in Nanjing.