USA hurtle on with sweep of Japan at Women's VNL

Not even Japan's fiery defending could dampen the frenetic pace of defending champions USA, who have now advanced to 11-0 and retain a perfect record - the only undefeated team after Day 11 at the 2021 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League which continues at Italy's Adriatic resort of Rimini.

Despite missing their overall top scorer Sarina Koga and with Kanami Tashiro stepping in to replace Aki Momii on setting duties, Japan presented a bit of a challenge for the Americans and even cancelled a set point in the second, before eventually going down in three.

Michelle Bartsch-Hackley and Kelsey Robinson picked up the brunt of the scoring on the outside, each ending up with 14 points - though the match high came from Japan's Ai Kurogo on 15.

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Germany came from behind in the first set to snatch it away from Brazil. This gave the Germans momentum and confidence and they went on to give the South Americans a harder time than anyone may have expected - though eventually Brazil closed it in four.

Gabi Guimaraes enjoyed a 56% (19/34) attacking efficiency and added two aces to share top-scoring honours with Hanna Orthmann on 21 points. Fe Garay stuffed the Germans five times as Brazil outblocked their opponents 12 to 8.

And Turkey remain on par with the South Americans on wins (though trail by four points) after a very convincing early morning straight-set win over Belgium in under an hour and a half.

Hande Baladin was top scorer of the game on 17 points with Ebrar Karakurt contributing another 16 - with the tournament's overall best scorer Britt Herbots restricted by Turkey to just 27% (11/40).

Those 11 points were still enough to keep Herbots atop the overall list of best scorers, on 218 points, but Poland's Magdalena Stysiak has now closed in to within seven points.

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The Netherlands also remain in pursuit of a Final Four berth, after a thrilling win over Italy in five sets - now at 8-3 alongside Japan.

Sylvia Nwakalor's match high of 27 points was not enough for Italy to take the game, as the Netherlands responded with 20 from Nika Daalderop. But Celeste Plak's contribution was also instrumental after she came on as a sub in sets two and three and started in the fourth and the tie-break to finish on 12 points and 67% (12/18) in attack.

Powered by 17-year-old Arina Fedorovtseva who attacked for an impressive 68% (13/19) and bagged the match high of 16 points, Russia quickly took care of Canada in straight sets in under an hour and a quarter.

And China survived a bit of a scare in the hands of the Dominican Republic, who closed in at 2-1 and were on their way to force a tie-break with a wide lead in the fourth, before the reigning Olympic champions pulled together to overtake them on the finish line with a 4-0 run at the very end to wrap up the match in four.

The Dominicans struggled to find a way around or through the China block that produced 17 points - six by Yan Ni alone. China captain Zhu Ting played the whole match this time and scored 16 points - her team's high - but Dominican captain Prisilla Rivera had the match high of 20.

In other VNL action on Sunday, Korea collected their second win of the tournament with Kim Yeon Koung finishing on 27 points and putting an end to their eight-match losing streak as they downed Serbia in four sets.

Korea avoided any complications when they blew a five-point lead as Serbia, despite playing with several key players, came back from 20-15 to catch up at 23-23. Kim attacked to take Korea to match point before Park Eunjin served an ace with the help of the net to close the game.

Poland also returned to victories with Zuzanna Gorecka getting this time the match high of 18 points as the European side completely dominated the match on the net - including seven blocks to none.

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