USA just breezed past Thailand with a confidence characteristic of the defending champions, as Micha Hancock distributed the play again with Michelle Bartsch-Hackley (18) and Haleigh Washington (17) bringing in the American points on the closing day of Week 2 at the 2021 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League in Italy's Adriatic resort of Rimini, Wednesday.
VNL 2021
USA, Turkey ready to charge into VNL Week 3
Herbots strikes again with 32; Brazil, Japan keep up the chase; Canada take off
Published 10:36, 02 Jun 2021
Despite some, at times nerve-racking, defending, Thailand were just not up to the task of challenging the Americans who patiently kept hammering away until they found solutions for each rally.
USA completed Week 2 on a 6-0 record and on full points, having dropped just one set (to Brazil in the opening week).
The Americans are next up against Germany, Korea and Italy on Week 3 - solidly on their way to a Final Four berth and a defence of their title.
Turkey made short work of China as Ebrar Karakurt again delivered on the scoring front with a match high of 17, but it was the back-court efforts that really brought the match home.
Turkey are now also 6-0, though they trail USA by two points for first place in the standings. They face Thailand, the Dominican Republic and Russia in Week 3, as they continue on track for their goal of a VNL medal.
However, it was Britt Herbots and her Belgium side that were once more talk of the day. The 21-year-old struck again, hammering 32 points against Korea, as Belgium scored their third tie-break win in as many matches as Herbots made her second entry on the list of players to have scored 30 points or more in a single VNL match.
Herbots shot up to a tournament total of 139 points and continues to lead the table of best scorers.
Can she keep on doing the same when the women's competition resumes for Week 3 and Belgium come up against China, Brazil and Serbia?
Once they figured out that winning isn't actually a bad thing, Canada are now on a roll. The VNL rookies inched past Germany in the incredibly tight first two sets and then cruised in the third to back-to-back wins that have them complete Week 2 at 2-4.
Kiera Van Ryk was again her team's top scorer at 17, consolidating her position as the third best scorer of the tournament overall after Week 2.
Now that they've gotten the hang of winning, it'll be really exciting to watch this energetic and passionate Canadian side in Week 3 when they take on Poland, Japan and the Netherlands.
Just below the table leaders, Brazil and Japan both closed Week 2 at 5-1 and are keeping up the heat on USA and Turkey.
Japan, hosts of the Tokyo Olympics later this season, outplayed Russia with yet another convincing performance that had the European side once more struggling for solutions in their play.
Russia were overwhelmed by the pace Japan set in game as Sarina Koga on 21 points and Mayu Ishikawa on 20 kept the points coming in for the 3-0 win.
The Netherlands, Canada and Poland are now coming up for Japan in Week 3. If they get through this group, they'll definitely be on their way to their first ever VNL finals.
With their lineup changed, Brazil struggled to find rhythm at the start of the game and found themselves trailing Italy. But eventually Tandara Caixeta and Rosamaria Montibeller delivered with 17 points each and Brazil finished in four to stay very much in the race for a spot amongst the top four.
The South Americans are taking on Serbia, Belgium and China in Week 3.
In other Week 2 action, the Netherlands extended their record to 4-2 after getting past Serbia in four sets, but had to fight hard for their win in what turned out to be a blocking contest of 14 by the Netherlands (5 by Juliet Lohuis) to 11 by Serbia (7 by Jovana Kocic).
But with Japan, Poland and a rejuvenated Canada coming up as of Sunday in Week 3, the Dutch have their work cut out.
And Bethania de la Cruz put the pressure on Poland with a high-scoring 26 points for back-to-back wins that improves their record to 3-3 as they head to Week 3 to face Russia, Turkey and Thailand.
Magdalena Stysiak was exactly on par with De la Cruz on 26 points - and though that was hardly enough for Poland to take the game, it was good for the 20-year-old to remain in second place of the best scorers table.
