Brave Brazil prevail in dramatic South American Derby

Brazil were on the winning side of the Volleyball Nations League 2023 South American Derby as the 2021 champions overcame continental rivals Argentina in the last match of the third day of the Pool 1 in Ottawa, Canada.

Playing at the TD Place on Thursday, the Brazilians came from behind to top their opponents in a nail-biting, five-set (19-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 15-13) encounter on Thursday to remain undefeated after two matches.

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The Brazilian comeback was the result of a true team effort from the South Americans, who used 12 of their 14 available players and had five of them registering double digits in scoring.

Olympic champion outside hitter Ricardo Lucarelli led the way with 17 points (15 kills, two blocks), followed by opposite Alan de Souza, who produced 13 before leaving the court in the third set. His substitute, Abouba Dramé tallied 11, the same as outside hitter Henrique Honorato, who just like him started the match on the bench. Middle blocker Otávio Pinto had ten points.

“Playing against Argentina is always something special for us,” team captain and setter Bruno Rezende, who also came in during the match, commented. “It’s always nice to play matches with so many emotions involved and to win it with a great comeback like this. That’s our spirit. We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare and are not playing at our best, but we can always compete if we put everything on the court. We were a little passive in the beginning, I think when we became more aggressive, the match changed a little bit. We got a lot of players come in and help today and we truly have 14 players here who are capable of making a difference. Everyone is important.”

Argentina had the top scorer of the encounter as Olympic medallist opposite Bruno Lima generated 20 points (18 kills, two blocks). Outside hitter Luciano Palonsky registered 16 points and middle blocker Agustin Loser, 13.

Brazil had only two more total points (107 to 105) than Argentina and were better than their opponents in kills (68 to 60) and aces (seven to four). The Tokyo Olympic medallists had the lead in blocks (ten to eight) and benefited from more errors to score points (31 to 24).

Volleyball Nations League 2023: full schedule and results

Earlier on Thursday, the Netherlands secured their first victory in the VNL 2023 by overcoming rookies Cuba 3-0 (28-26, 25-23, 25-18). A few hours later, in another three-setter (25-15, 25-18, 25-19), the United States claimed their second win, in a duel against Italy.

Friday will feature three more Pool 1 matches in Ottawa. Europeans rival the Netherlands and Germany will meet in the first one, at 11:00 local time (15:00 UTC), Italy and Cuba will fight to get their first wins on the second, at 16:30 local time (20:30 UTC), and Canada and Argentina will battle on the third, at 20:00 local time (00:00 UTC, Saturday).

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