Japan survive mighty scare, on track for Women's VNL semis

Japan avoided any complications in their quest to make the the Final Four of the 2021 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League at Italy's Adriatic resort of Rimini as they came back from two sets down to edge the Dominican Republic in five sets on the opening day of Week 5, Friday.

Meanwhile, Brazil joined USA in securing a ticket to the semifinals, leaving two positions open, to be decided over the weekend in the last two days of pool play.

Japan and Turkey are the top runners for the two available spots, both at 10-3 and needing just one win in their remaining two games - but China, Russia and the Netherlands are still in with a theoretical chance.

Turkey face Korea and Brazil, Japan are up against Germany and Serbia on the last two days of pool play.

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It was the usual case of Japan never letting the ball hit the floor - and they defended impeccably, as Mayu Ishikawa with 24 and Sarina Koga with 23 kept the points coming in.

On the other side of the net, Brayelin Martinez scored the match high of 31 and Bethania de la Cruz added 26 - but the 'Queens of the Caribbean' were outserved 6-1 and outblocked 10-7 (four stuffs from Haruyo Shimamura alone).

Brazil, on the other hand, made a clean sweep on Friday to remain second in the standings at 11-2 and mathematically secure their own ticket to the semifinals.

Tandara Caixeta and Fe Garay each scored 13 points to counter the match high of 17 from Kim Yeon Koung, as libero Camila Brait brilliantly kept Korea's offence in check.

USA, meanwhile, performed under pressure and though they shut out Poland the match was tighter than the scoreline of 3-0 might suggest.

Poland blew four set points in the first before Micha Hancock served back-to-back aces on Magdalena Stysiak to close the set.

It was USA all the way in the second - Poland never getting a shot at match point, before a block by Tetori Dixon on Martyna Lukasik closed that one as well.

And Kim Hill blocked Stysiak five times in the third, helping keep USA the only undefeated team of the tournament and still on full points.

Turkey are now on par with Japan in third place of the table, poised to grab one of the remaining semifinals tickets, after their solid 3-0 win over the Netherlands on Friday night.

The Dutch had a total of three set points to take the first set, including one for a sideout but missed that chance when Marrit Jasper's initial and another two subsequent attacks were dug and Ebrar Karakurt made the kill for Turkey to draw level at 24-24. A little later and Nika Daalderop received Buse Unal's service sending a free ball to the Turkish which was promptly dealt with by Karakurt, before Zehra Gunes finished the set with a 'monster block' on Daalderop.

That was mostly all the serious resistance that the Netherlands proffered and Turkey went on to take the match, dominating the blocking 11 to 5 (with five stuffs from Eda Erdem alone).

Karakurt was the top scorer of the match on 21 - not one of the Dutch going into double digits.

In other VNL action on Friday, Belgium overcame Thailand as Britt Herbots fired off 33 points - her third entry this season in the list of players to have broken the 30-point mark at the VNL.

Herbots also widened her lead in the overall scorers list of the current VNL, now on 277 and 36 ahead of Stysiak.

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And Germany improved to 5-8 with another solid performance with Hanna Orthman registering the match high of 15 points, downing in straight sets Serbia who are now on a five-match losing streak.

Italy swept Canada for their third win of the tournament and leapfrogged both Canada and Korea in the standings, climbing to 13th.

Sylvia Nwakalor top-scored again for Italy with a match high 18 points as Italy applied pressure from the service line - Sofia D'Odirico alone producing three aces.

• Check out the full results and details of all matches, plus remaining schedule