VNL 2025

Darlan wins scoring duel with Mandiraci

Brazil beat Turkiye in four sets

Published 09:46, 19 Jul 2025

Türkiye (TUR) vs. Brazil (BRA) men - Pool 9 - Preliminary Phase #52150240

High-flying Darlan in action

In Saturday’s opening men’s Volleyball Nations League game in Chiba, Japan, quarterfinals-bound Brazil beat Turkiye in four sets, while Darlan Souza and Efe Mandiraci engaged in a spectacular scoring race in attack and from the serving line. Table leaders Brazil improved to a 10-1 win-loss record and 29 points and secured the first place in the final Preliminary Phase standings a day ahead of the last matches in the pools. On 3-8 and 9, Turkiye stand 15^th, without a shot at the Finals and without the risk of relegation.

Watch the Volleyball Nations League on VBTV

Opposite Darlan hammered five aces from the serving line, spiked 22 points at a 59% success rate and put away a kill block to contribute a match-high 28 points towards Brazil’s 3-1 (25-22, 26-24, 22-25, 25-22) victory. He also authored the match winner at the end of set four. Outside hitter Efe Mandiraci did even better in serving from the opposite end of the court and piled up six aces for Turkiye to lead the team with a total of 24 points. He registered 51% success rate in attack.

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Volleyball Nations League (@volleyballnationsleague)

Brazil’s star outside hitter and captain Ricardo Lucarelli chipped in with another 13 points, including one ace and one block, while his 21-year-old cross-court teammate Arthur Bento Buczmiejuk finished with 11 points. The only other player to reach the double digits was Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija, who put away two aces, two kill blocks and six kills in attack.

“I am so happy to be back on the court. My last game was on May 5 I guess and since then I have been recovering from my shoulder problem. I am so happy that I could play today. We won, we guaranteed ourselves the first place, which was also important…” Lucarelli told VBTV. “I think this team from Turkiye is really good. They have a lot of individual qualities and they showed them today. For us it was good that everybody had an opportunity to play, me too… And winning is even better. We wanted to be first because we just wanted to be first. Yes, we are going to face China (in the quarterfinals) and it will be difficult to play with the audience cheering for them, so let’s prepare…”