Deal sealed: Turkey, Japan join USA, Brazil in Women's VNL Final 4

Turkey and Japan completed the lineup of the 2021 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League semifinalists Saturday, with a day to spare in pool play, as the competition continues at Italy's Adriatic resort of Rimini.

The exact pairings of next Thursday's semifinals will be decided on the closing day of pool play, Sunday, when Japan (who face Serbia) and Turkey (who meet Brazil) will find out their opponents. Defending champions USA had made sure of a Final Four appearance already since the end of Week 4 and Brazil had joined them on Friday evening.

On Saturday, Day 14 of the round robin tournament, USA confirmed pole position heading into the medals round and Brazil tied up second place.

• Check out the full standings

Japan became the third team to qualify to the top four - but it was a hard fight to find a way past some strong German blocking that produced 13 points (five from Marie Schoelzel alone) for their four-set win.

Mayu Ishikawa with a match high of 17 points and Sarina Koga with 16 were once again Japan's top scorers, but it was the 29 unforced errors conceded by Germany that made the difference in the end.

The result brought Japan to 11 wins from 14 games and beyond the reach of any of the other contenders for a Final Four berth.

It will be Japan's first appearance in the semifinals at the VNL. Their previous best was 9th place in 2019.

A little later in the day at Rimini, Turkey absorbed the pressure until Korea could no longer apply any and overcame their own stress, coming to a four-set win that sees them pass the threshold and qualify to the semifinals.

It was a rollercoaster first set as Korea came back from 19-15 and then 21-18 to make a five-point run and go ahead 21-23 before Turkey reacted with a four point run of their own to close the set on an ace by Cansu Ozbay on Oh Jiyoung.

Korea did react to take the second, but captain Eda Erdem shone with 69% (11/16) in attack and added three blocks and two aces to carry Turkey to their third Final Four in as many editions of the VNL.

Ebrar Karakurt improved as the game wore on and finished with a match high of 22 points.

USA, meawnhile, mathematically confirmed first place in the standings after taking down Russia in four sets and dashing any remaining hopes that the European side may have had in making the top four.

With Kim Hill as libero and not a single substitution by coach Karch Kiraly throughout the match, USA applied pressure from the service line for a total of 13 aces (four by Jordan Larson).

Setter Jordyn Poulter distributed the play evenly, with captain Larson scoring the match high of 19. Haleigh Washington (18), Annie Drews (17) and Kelsey Robinson (16) also in the teens. Seventeen-year-old Irina Fedorovtseva was Russia's best scorer on 14.

On a 14-0 record and full points, USA remain the only undefeated team in the tournament. It was just the fourth time they dropped a set in the course of the competition, after conceding one each to Brazil, Italy and Turkey.

And Brazil were led by Gabi Guimaraes as they totally and overwhelmingly dominated the Netherlands in straight sets to mathematically secure second place in the final standings - regardless of what happens on Sunday when they face Turkey in the very last match of pool play.

Natalia Pereira captained Brazil and made her first appearance at this VNL - even if briefly as a sub in each of the three sets - as Gabi Guimaraes scored a match high of 17 points, on par with Dutch outside hitter Celeste Plak.

The Netherlands had theoretically been in the race for a ticket to the Final Four until midway through the match when Turkey completed their win in the other court over Korea.

China did their duty to beat Poland in straight sets - though they only stayed alive in the race for the semifinals for a couple of hours, until Turkey's win over Korea.

With attacking efficiency at dizzying heights of 75% (18/24) from Zhang Chiangning, 74% (17/23) from Li Yingying and 66% (57/86) overall, Poland had no chance - though they did cancel two China set points in the first. Zhang completed the match on 21 points.

In other VNL action on Saturday, Thailand produced a solid performance to beat Canada in straight sets for their second win of the tournament - though it was not quite enough to lift them from last place in the standings.

Thailand's serving disoriented the Canadians. That alongside their signature fast game and relentless defending made it impossible for the North Americans to keep up, as Kanthong Malika contributed the match high of 16 points, including 65% (13/20) in attack.

And Belgium wrapped up Day 14, with a thrilling five-set win over Italy, which saw Britt Herbots smash 34 points for her fourth personal entry in the list of players to have scored 30 points or more in a single VNL match.

It was Belgium's seventh five-setter in 14 matches.

Herbots widened the distance separating her from Poland's Magdalena Stysiak in the overall list of the 2021 VNL best scorers, now standing at 311 to 257.

• Check out the individual rankings of players

Earlier in the day Serbia, again without some key players that made an impact in the first three weeks of the competition, suffered their sixth consecutive defeat, falling in straight sets to the Dominican Republic.

Gaila Gonzalez served all four of the Caribbean side's aces (to none from Serbia) as she shared her team's high scoring of 12 points with Prisilla Rivera and Yonkaira Pena. However, it was Serbia's Aleksandra Uzelac who bagged the match high of 16.

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