Poland outlast Brazil to defend their bronze
Italy are the women’s Volleyball Nations League 2024 champions! Powered by usual suspect Paola Egonu in Sunday’s final in Bangkok, they defeated Japan in four sets and claimed the VNL trophy for the second time, after 2022, when they triumphed at the Finals in Ankara. Japan settled for silver, a historic success for the Asian team, whose best previous result in the competition was a fourth place in 2021. Poland managed to defend their 2023 bronze by outlasting Brazil in a dramatic five-set battle for the third place.
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In front of over six thousand spectators in Thailand’s capital, Italy outspiked and outblocked Japan to celebrate a 3-1 (25-17, 25-17, 21-25, 25-20) victory. And their star opposite Paola Egonu excelled at both of those elements. She raised four of her team’s 12 kill blocks (against only two from Japan) and hammered 23 of Italy’s 66 successful swings in attack (against 52 from Japan) to top the match charts with 27 points to her name.
Outside hitters Myriam Sylla and Alice Degradi chipped in another 15 and 12 points, respectively, towards the victory, while a monster block by Sarah Fahr delivered the match winner in the fourth set.
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With the help of two aces from Arisa Inoue, Japan fought back to prevail in the third set, but that was as much as they could take away from their powerful opponent. Inoe finished with 11 points, while outside hitter and captain Sarina Koga spearheaded the team with 17 points, all in offence.
“How can I feel! I am happy, of course, because we are an amazing group and you can see it in how we play on the court. I hope this is just the beginning,” Italy’s middle blocker and captain Anna Danesi told VBTV after the final. “This tournament was really hard, we travelled a lot, but we stayed focused and we won. Again, it’s an amazing team! Congratulations to Japan! They deserved to be in this final.”
“I think we grew a lot as a team throughout this VNL and we have to be proud of that. Winning our first VNL medal is something we have to be proud of, but there are some things we have to work on too,” Japan’s middle Airi Miyabe commented.
Earlier on Sunday, Poland celebrated a 3-2 (25-21, 26-28, 25-21, 19-25, 15-9) victory over Brazil in the third place match and achieved their second podium in the history of the competition, after last year’s bronze. Less than 24 hours after suffering their first loss of the season in a five-set semifinal against Japan, Brazil had to persevere through another five-setter to lose once again. It was the second time they settled for a fourth-place finish, after doing so in the inaugural edition in 2018. The South Americans collected silver medals in the next three seasons, but this year’s result is still better than last year’s, when they failed to make it among the semifinalists for the first time.
Both sides displayed some top-calibre blocking during the match and it was one of the elements that tilted the balance Poland’s way with an impressive 19 stuffs against 16 for Brazil. Outside hitter Martyna Lukasik led Poland to victory with 21 points, including two kill blocks. Opposite Magdalena Stysiak added another 20 points with three blocks to her name. Another outside, 20-year-old Martyna Czyrnianska, who was among the starters for the last two sets only, also put away three blocking points to finish with a total of 13, but it was middle Agnieszka Korneluk, who led the way with as many as seven stuffs and added two aces within an 11-point match tally. One more Polish player reached the double digits and that was outside Natalia Medrzyk with 11 points.
Brazilian star outside and captain Gabriela Guimaraes (Gabi) delivered a match-high 22 points. Her cross-court teammate Julia Bergmann added another 20. Middle Ana Carolina Da Silva (Carol) raised five kill blocks to finish with 13 points, while outside-turned-opposite Ana Cristina de Souza put away 10.
Volleyball Nations League 2024: schedule and results
WATCH THE DRAWING OF LOTS FOR THE MEN’S OLYMPIC VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT AT PARIS 2024!
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June 26, at 16:00 UTC
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