Volleyball Nations League history was made on Friday in Brasilia, Brazil, as rookies Croatia secured their first-ever victory in the tournament.
Competing in the VNL for the first time, the Europeans triumphed in their sixth opportunity, overcoming Korea 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-14) at the Nilson Nelson Stadium, in the Brazilian capital.
After five losses, Croatia secured their first triumph in the VNL
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Croatia and Korea started the day as the only teams yet to win a match in the VNL 2023, but the Europeans put that in the past, securing their first three points in the event. Despite the result, they remain in fifth place, but are now just one point behind the Netherlands and two behind Bulgaria and Serbia. Korea remain winless in 16th place.
Middle blocker and team captain Martina Šamadan was a key name in the Croatian victory as she led all scorers with 18 points (12 kills, three aces, three blocks), leading the team in all three scoring categories.
“It’s very important for us to feel those kinds of things and to know we’re capable of doing it,” Šamadan commented. “We had a very bad start in the VNL, but now we got the first win and hopefully we’re going to get some more. We had a very clear plan of what we wanted to do during the match and we just stuck to it. Sometimes we have these really good blocking performances and today was one of those days.”
Captain Šamadan had an excellent performance, producing in all areas of the game
Outside hitter Dijana Karatović also had a productive performance, registering 11 points, with eight kills, one ace and two blocks.
For Korea, middle blocker Hoyoung Jung was the only one to reach double digits in scoring, ending the match with ten (seven kills, one ace, two blocks).
Croatia’s blocking production was a major factor in their victory as the Europeans outscored the Asians at the net by 14 points to five – they also had the advantage in kills (37 to 36) and opponent errors (18 to 10). Despite the loss, Korea fired seven aces to Croatia’s six.
Korean hitters had a hard time going against the Croatian blockers
Croatia will next take on Serbia on Sunday, when they face Serbia at 21:00 local time (00:00 UTC, Sunday) and complete their Pool 4 campaign on Monday when they take on Thailand at 14.00 local time. Korea will need to wait until Sunday, at 17:30 local time (20:30 UTC), to play again – they will face Germany.
In the first match of the day in Brasilia, Germany upset Japan, taking the Asian powerhouse down with a 3-2 (25-23, 14-25, 25-22, 20-25, 15-8) victory that made them pass their opponents in the standings, taking over the sixth spot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiXNIgiTZ3Q
Outside hitter Hannah Orthmann was in excellent form in the German victory, tallying 24 points, with 22 kills, one ace and one block. Middle blocker Marie Schözel produced 16 points for the Europeans, with 11 kills and five blocks. Japan had not one, but two players scoring 20+ points in outside hitters Sarina Koga (24) and Arisa Inoue (20).
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