Wada steps in to encourage the historic victory
Japan have a good time throughout their VNL semifinal in opposition to Brazil
Japan secured their historic first medal within the ladies’s Volleyball Nations League by qualifying for Sunday’s last in opposition to Italy after a outstanding five-set semifinal victory over Brazil on Saturday. That win not solely put an finish to the South People’ 13-game successful streak for the reason that begin of the competitors, but in addition stopped the custom of Brazil beating Japan in 5 units in every of their earlier three encounters. Within the different semifinal, Italy shut out Poland to advance to the VNL last for the second time in historical past, after successful gold in 2022.
Sunday’s gold medal showdown between Italy and Japan in Bangkok will begin at 20:30 native time (13:30 UTC), whereas the bronze medal match between Poland and Brazil will serve off at 17:00 (10:00).
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22-year-old reverse Yukiko Wada, who subbed in for Kotona Hayashi throughout the first set of the late semifinal between Brazil and Japan, proved to be the massive hero for the Asian squad as she led her teammates to a memorable 3-2 (26-24, 20-25, 25-21, 22-25, 15-12) victory. Wada produced a match-high 21 factors in the direction of Japan’s success to share the highest scorer honours of the sport with Brazilian star Gabriela Gumaraes (Gabi), with every of them placing away 20 spike kills and an ace. Captain Sarina Koga added one other 18 factors. The opposite Japanese exterior hitter Mayu Ishikawa scored 16 factors, together with the match winner with a block-out swing, whereas center blocker Airi Miyabe raised 4 kill blocks (two of them within the tie-breaker) in the direction of an 11-point tally. One other 4 gamers reached the double digits on the Brazilian facet: exterior Julia Bergmann with 17, center Thaisa Menezes with 16 (seven kill blocks!), reverse Rosamaria Montibeller with 16, and center Ana Carolina Da Silva (Carol) with 14 (six kill blocks).
Yukiko Wada spikes previous Julia Bergmann’s block
After Brazil managed to come back again from a set down twice throughout the match with Japan, the Asian group stormed the fifth set on a 7-1 run. Nevertheless, the South People battled again to catch up at 9-9, however by no means managed to step in entrance. With Japan defending spectacularly within the cash time, they stayed in management till Ishikawa’s block-out kill closed the set and the match their method.
“After all, it’s onerous to speak now. It’s at all times tough to play in opposition to Japan. They defend rather a lot. We additionally do, however at this time I believe our counterattack wasn’t so good. Neither was our serve. They put in loads of velocity into their units and their spikes, so we have been struggling a little bit bit with the appropriate positions,” Carol instructed VBTV after the match. “It was a tough sport and now you will need to relaxation, as a result of tomorrow we’ve got one other sport and we’ve got to be able to struggle once more. After all, it’s very irritating, as a result of we wished to win the event, however Japan did a terrific job.”
“We stored shedding to Brazil in 5 units, however I believe we realized our lesson. Lastly we acquired that win and I’m so blissful for that! And I’m so pleased with my ladies, as a result of we stayed robust within the actually tough moments,” Airi commented. “It’s going to be a fast turnaround, however we’ve got to get better and change our mindset to successful the subsequent sport.”
https://youtu.be/bNdHdjZJTZ4
The primary semifinal earlier on Saturday was a match with out suspense. Italy utterly dominated on the courtroom to grasp an emphatic 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-12) sweep of a one-sided encounter with Poland, prevailing on all scoring counts. Italian star reverse Paola Egonu was in her typical good type and fired as many as 22 factors over the three units of the sport. She spiked at a 59% success fee and delivered two kill blocks and an ace to high the match chart. Outdoors hitter Myriam Sylla added one other 11 factors, together with a monster block for the match winner, whereas Italian setter Alessia Orro impressed with as many as 5 kill blocks to complete with seven factors. Reverse Magdalena Stysiak was Poland’s greatest scorer with 11 factors.
“It’s tough to say one thing optimistic after this sport, as a result of it was a sport with no story. However my group desires to complete this VNL with a win, so tomorrow we’ll do our greatest to complete in a optimistic method. Right now Italy confirmed us how robust they’re. The sport plan was really easy for them. However tomorrow is a brand new day,” Poland’s setter and captain Joanna Wolosz mentioned after the match. “After two seasons since we began working with coach Lavarini we’re nonetheless rising, so we take every sport as a lesson to develop.”
“I’m so blissful and excited. I used to be a little bit nervous. I believe all of us have been a little bit nervous, however we discovered our sport and I’m so blissful! I’m blissful concerning the end result. We now have been training rather a lot, bodily and mentally, and I believe what stored us up was the psychological preparation,” Paola Egonu commented. “I really like the Thai followers a lot! They’ve been near me within the good instances, within the unhealthy instances, at all times… So I’m actually grateful and at all times so blissful to play in Thailand.”
https://youtu.be/-zlLZZ2M8aw
Volleyball Nations League 2024: schedule and outcomes
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June 26, at 16:00 UTC
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