Iran men’s B national volleyball team has secured a place in the final match of the 2015 Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship in Tehran, following a narrow victory over the Chinese side.

Defending successive two-time champions Iran stunned China 3-2 (21-25, 20-25, 25-9, 25-19 and 16-14) in a clash of the Titans at the 12,000-seater Azadi Sport Complex in western Tehran on Friday evening.

Chinese sportsmen got off to an electrifying start, scoring 14 points against the Persians, who could collect nine by the middle of the first set. Both teams then continued to notch points and went into the second technical timeout 16-13.

The Iranian outfit sought to close the gap afterwards, but the Chinese widened the distance and won the set 25-21.

The second set started with both teams scoring point by point. China later regained its dominant performance with some fine attacks, and managed to gain an 8-6 lead at the first technical timeout.

The Iranians took it to the wire shortly afterwards and leveled the score at 13-13. However, Chinese volleyball players took the lead again, and went into the second technical timeout 16-13.

After the break, China availed itself of Iran’s numerous individual mistakes to surge ahead and clinched the second set 25-20.

The home side fought gallantly afterwards and exerted a spell of pressure on the visitors to put Iran 8-4 up for the first technical timeout of the third set. Iranians managed to expand the difference further, taking the score to 16-6 for the second timeout. Iran won the third set 25-9 at last.

Iranian volleyball players maintained their dominant performance in the fourth set of the game, and jumped out to an 8-6 lead at the first technical timeout. They continued to progress and went into the second timeout 16-12. The hosts finally secured the fourth set and won it 25-19.

The Iranians ultimately won the last set 16-14 and ended the game, thanks to their serves and attacks.

Iran will face Asian powerhouse Japan in the final encounter of the 2015 Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship in Tehran at 5:30 p.m. local time (1300 GMT) on Saturday.