VNL 2023: winning debut for Brazil. First win for Bulgaria and Serbia – Slovenia and China defeated in straight sets!
2 min read
2023 Volleyball Nations League continued today with third day of games.
With 20 points from the Olympic champion Ricardo Lucarelli, including two aces and two winning blocks, Brazil down Germany 3-1 (24:26, 25:16, 19:25, 25:15) in their debut in Pool 1 in Ottawa, Canada.
Opposite Alan de Souza also had a great performance ending the game with 19 points including one block, and double digit also for middle blocker Otávio Pinto, 11 points (seven attacks, two aces and two blocks).
Germany had the match’s top scorer in opposite Linus Weber, who scored 21 points, while outside hitter Moritz Reichert and middle blocker Anton Brehme, who scored three aces, both ended the game with 14 points.
To make the difference, however, was the number of errors: 16 for Brazil against 30 of the rivals, but the winners were also better in blocks (ten to four) and aces (five to four).
“We had several counterattack opportunities since the start of the match, but we struggled with it on certain moments, especially on the first and third sets,” said Lucarelli at the end of the game.
“I felt like our service was better too on the fourth set and that created more opportunities for us to score points. We had only two practices with the entire team before coming to Canada and we’re starting to see some progress now. We need time together and we need to be on the court to get where we want. We had good moments today, but we need to be able to sustain them for entire matches.”
In Pool 2 in Nagoya, Japan, two teams celebrated their first wins and both did it in straight sets: Bulgaria, who down Slovenia (24:26, 23:25, 17:25) with 16 points from Aleksandar Nikolov and 13 from Martin Atanasov (on the losing side, also Tine Urnaut reached a double digit with 13 points to his name), and Serbia who, after struggling a lot in first set ended overtime, defeat China (34:32, 25:16, 25:20) with 19 points from top scorer Luburic, 16 by Kujundzic and 13 from Nedeljkovic.
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🏐| 2023 VOLLEYBALL NATIONS LEAGUE
— June 08, 2023 —
Pool 1 – Week 1 – Ottawa 🇨🇦
👉🏼 20:00 (Local Time) | Brazil – Germany 3-1 (24:26, 25:16, 19:25, 25:15)
• 11:00 (Local Time) | The Netherlands – Cuba 3-0 (28:26, 25:23, 25:18)
• 16:30 (Local Time) | Italy – USA 0-3 (15:25, 18:25, 19:25)
Pool 2 – Week 1 – Nagoya 🇯🇵
👉🏼 12:00 (Local Time) | Slovenia – Bulgaria 0-3 (24:26, 23:25, 17:25)
👉🏼 15:00 (Local Time) | Serbia – China 3-0 (34:32, 25:16, 25:20)
• 18:00 (Local Time) | Poland – Iran 3-2 (23:25, 23:25, 25:21, 25:15, 15:13)
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🏐| STANDINGS (updated on this day):
1. Bulgaria 4
2. Argentina 3
3. Serbia 3
4. Japan 3
5. USA 3
6. Poland 3
7. Slovenia 3
8. Brazil 3
9. China 2
10. Canada 2
11. Cuba 1
12. France 0
13. Germany 0
14. The Netherlands 0
15. Italy 0
16. Iran 0
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…NEXT MATCHES:
— June 09, 2023 —
Pool 1 – Week 1 – Ottawa 🇨🇦
• 20:00 (Local Time) | Argentina – Brazil
• 11:00 (Local Time) | The Netherlands – Germany
• 16:30 (Local Time) | Italy – Cuba
Pool 2 – Week 1 – Nagoya 🇯🇵
• 13:10 (Local Time) | China – France
• 16:10 (Local Time) | Poland – Bulgaria
• 19:40 (Local Time) | Japan – Serbia
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