Rimini 'bubble' buzzing as VNL delivers thrills

World volleyball is back! The Rimini 'bubble' on Italy's Adriatic Riviera is buzzing, after the 2021 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League got underway with some thrilling action that's a teaser of what's to come over the next month.

And absolutely all concerned were chuffed to bits to be back in action after well over a year of inactivity.

Top of the opening day's entertainment came from Turkey and Serbia who battled it out for for well over two hours (at 2:25 just five minutes shy of the all-time VNL duration record from the Turkey v Brazil match in 2019) in the Balkan derby.

Experience prevailed in the end, as the young Serbian side came back from 12-9 in the tie break to draw level and even cancelled the first match point of their opponents, before Sara Caric served long and Sara Lozo got blocked as Turkey took the game.

There was evenly distributed scoring from Meryem Boz (17), Ebrar Karakurt (16) and captain Eda Erdem for the Turkish side - but Caric outshone the lot of them with a match high of 22 for Serbia, while Katarina Lazovic registered the day's best serving with five aces.

But there was more drama later in the day, as another squad of youngsters took centre stage.

It took Poland all of five sets and 2:29 minutes for the longest match of the day, as they survived two Italian match points in the tie-break, before Zuzanna Gorecka served an ace to bring the match home.

But it was Magdalena Stysiak who led Poland against the young hosts, scoring the day's high of 25 points which gives her a slight and early lead in the race for top scorer of the competition.

Meanwhile, defending champions USA got off to a cracking start in their quest for a third VNL title in as many editions of the competition - a most convincing shutout of their NORCECA rivals Dominican Republic, as Kathryn Plummer led the scoring on 16 points and the two Jordans, Larson and Thompson, added another 15 each.

And VNL rookies Canada took Brazil by surprise in the first set. That, however, was the extent of the North Americans' resistance, as the 2019 silver medallists reacted with almost a vengeance and wrapped it up in four sets, with every single one of their players scoring and Gabi Guimaraes just at the top on 15 points.

In the most exciting of the two Asian derbies of the day, captain Zhang Changning led reigning Olympic champions China to a comeback from a set down as they defeated Korea in four sets. Zhang's 23 points in the match set her up nicely in the table of the competition's best scorers.

Japan, meanwhile, totally overwhelmed Thailand in the other Asian classic, outblocking their opponents 13 to 2.

Earlier in the day, Nika Daalderop had scored the very first point of the 2021 VNL, as the Netherlands convincingly overcame their neighbours Belgium in straight sets, while Russia flexed their muscles as they overpowered Germany on the back of 20 points by Nataliya Goncharova.

Action continues on Wednesday with Day 2 of the women's competition at specially converted pavilions of Rimini's International Fair.

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