Amazing Carol leads Brazil to second VNL victory

Ana Carolina Da Silva had a fabulous day in Shreveport-Bossier City! The 31-year-old middle blocker powered Brazil to their second Volleyball Nations League 2022 victory. Carol produced seven kill blocks and three aces towards a 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-22) shutout of Poland and towards the individual match high in scoring on Thursday as her team took over the top of the current standings on a 2-0 win-loss record and six points.

· Watch all VNL 2022 matches live on Volleyball TV.

“Carol is a monster at blocking!” exclaimed her teammate Julia Bergman after the match, pointing out that the 1.83m-tall middle had already delivered six stuffs in Brazil’s first match, against Germany.

But it wasn’t only the blocking. The player wearing the number four on her Brazilian jersey fired three aces, one of them for the match winner. She put away five spikes at a 63% success rate. Carol’s total of 15 points made her the best scorer of the match.

She scored a particularly beautiful point by hammering the overpass for 14-9 in set three. That and the rotation error that followed on Poland’s side gave Brazil a lead that looked almost impossible to wipe out. However, Poland fought back to narrow it down. They got back to within one (23-22), as Zuzanna Gorecka stuffed another attempt by Carol to hit the overpass. It was Gorecka’s only kill block in the match, but in addition to her 10 successful spikes, it pushed her tally up to 11, just enough to be her team’s leading scorer in the match.

Carol came back with another successful attack to deliver the match point at 24-23 and converted it herself directly from the serving line for the victory.

Overall, Poland were a lot more productive in attack than their Brazilian opponents. The Europeans spiked as many as 49 points against only 32 for the South Americans. The Poles also received better and defended better. The blocking and serving point balances were well in favour of the Brazilians, but what made the biggest difference in the match were the unforced errors. Poland committed 26 of those against only nine on their opponents’ side.

That was particularly so in set one. Poland were superior in offence, but not enough to make up for the mistake ratio which was ten to one in that set. Brazilian opposite Lorenne Teixeira put away the 25-23 set winner with a powerful off-the-block hit. Ze Roberto’s squad continued to capitalise on the abundant Polish errors in set two. The Europeans had a 20-19 lead, but five points in row put Brazil at set point, which a long serve by Poland’s Martyna Lukasik turned into a 25-23 Brazilian win.

“It was a good game. We played better together today,” said Bergmann. “Yesterday we were a little more nervous. It was our first game in the Volleyball Nations League. I think today our game was a lot more fluid.”

On Saturday, at 17:00 local time (22:00 GMT), Brazil will take on the Dominican Republic, before facing hosts USA on Sunday.

“We are going to study the other teams and look for their weaknesses. We are going to watch their match, but we are going to focus on our side and see what we could do better,” added Bergmann.

Poland, who are now on a 1-1 win-loss record, will play against Korea on Saturday and against Germany on Sunday.

A couple of thrilling five-setters marked the third competition day in Pool 2, played in Ankara. First, Thailand delivered a 3-2 (25-23, 25-27, 25-20, 20-25, 15-12) upset of world champions Serbia on a 32-point match high by Pimpichaya Kokram to claim their second win of the tournament. Then Bulgaria recovered from their loss to Thailand on Tuesday with a rollercoaster 3-2 (25-15, 12-25, 19-25, 25-15, 15-7) win over the Netherlands. Outside Gergana Dimitrova led the way with 20 points. In the last match of the day in Ankara, Italy managed their first victory of the VNL, a 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-20) defeat of Belgium. Opposite Sylvia Nwakalor contributed 29 points to her team’s success, while Belgium’s point machine Britt Herbots finished with 26.

Volleyball Nations League 2022: Full schedule and results

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