Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 12, 2017 – Brazil dropped their first set at the 2017 FIVB Women’s U23 here today in Hala Tivoli as they overcame Japan 4-1 (14-16, 15-13, 15-11, 15-10) to remain undefeated after three rounds of play.
The South Americans lead Pool B with a 3-0 record, as Japan drop to 1-2.
All matches in Ljubljana are played under a new scoring system currently being tested: a best-of-seven, 15-point set format.
Mayany Souza with a tournament high of eight blocks and captain Drussyla Costa with a total of 12 points led Brazil, who found the patience to keep replying to some brilliant defending of the Japanese, though at times they struggled in reception. However, it was Misaki Yamauchi and Nanami Hirose with 13 points each for Japan who were top scorers of the game.
Brazil had the chance to take lead when they went 14-13 up in the first, but Japan rallied for three straight points, including an ace by Haruka Kanamori for set point to finish the set.
And Japan tried to react in the fourth when they took a 6-10 lead before Brazil closed in to tie the score for the first time at 12-12 and then took the set on their fourth set point.
Brazil coach, Wagner Coppini: “The match was quite difficult because when we play against the Asian school it’s always hard. All their players are technically very good. We lost one set today but the most important thing is that we won. Tomorrow is the day off but we intend to practice, practice, practice.”
Brazil captain, Drussyla Costa: “It’s quite difficult at this stage of the championships. When we play against a team from Asia it’s quite complicated because they play very good defence and it is very hard to play. But, when we play with good reception it becomes easier to attack.”
Japan coach, Kiyoshi Abo: “I am very disappointed and sad that we lost today against Brazil. All our players played well and I have no bad word for them. We will try to improve our attacking and receiving. We need to be more focused. We will give our best in the matches to come.”
Japan captain, Misaki Yamauchi: “In the first set that we won, we served well and in this case it’s easy to score points. But in the other sets, which were all very close, towards the end of the sets our attacking was blocked by Brazilian blockers. I hope that our play will improve for the next matches as well as the results.”
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