Brazil end Slovenia’s five-game winning streak

Brazil put an end to Slovenia’s five-match winning streak in the men’s Volleyball Nations League 2023. In a Pool 3 game in Orleans on Saturday, they claimed a 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-21) victory to rise to fourth place in the current standings on a 5-2 win-loss record and 16 points, just below third-placed Slovenia on 6-2 and 18.

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Brazil’s outside hitter Ricardo Lucarelli and opposite Alan Souza shared the top scorer honours of the match, each with 19 points, including an ace. On their opponents’ side, opposite Klemen Cebulj led the way with 18 points, all in attack, followed by outside and captain Tine Urnaut with 17, including a block and an ace.

The lead changed hands a few times in the first set before Slovenia went on a four-point streak to gain a 19-16 advantage and never looked back. Brazil’s prolific spiking was offset by their abundant unforced errors, which allowed the Europeans to take the first set by 25-23. The South Americans struck back immediately. Sharply reducing the mistakes, they were well in control from the first to the last rally of the second set and levelled the match after a 25-21 win shaped up with a first-tempo attack by middle blocker Otavio Pinto for the last point.

A fierce battle unfolded in the third set. The lead went back and forth several times, hardly ever exceeding a point. The widest gap during the set occurred at 20-17 Brazil’s way, but the Slovenians fought back to reach set point first. After the side-out, however, Alan Souza hammered an ace to bring Brazil to set point and converted it to a 26-24 win with a powerful block-out shot from the back row. Slovenia were the first to gain a three-point advantage in the fourth set, at 6-3, but Brazil caught up as a tight battle unfolded on the court. After 15-13 Slovenia’s way, the South Americans scored four in a row to take control of the scoreboard for good. They kept the pressure, cruised on and closed the match at 25-21 on Otavio’s kill through the middle.

“Maybe we didn’t start in the best way; maybe not as aggressively as we would like and as we can. The Slovenian team put us in a lot of trouble in the first set; they did not commit any mistakes. It’s difficult to play against a team, who have this type of game. But after that we focused better. Our serve was better in the second and the third sets. It was a really nice match. Thanks to the audience, the atmosphere was great. And it was an important win towards qualification,” said Brazil’s setter and captain Bruno Rezende. “It’s always special to play France. In the past 10 years we played a lot of incredible matches and it will be amazing tomorrow to play here in front of this great crowd. I know it will be difficult, but we will do everything to have the best game that we can.”

On Sunday, Brazil will take on hosts and defending champions France at 17:30 local time (15:30 UTC). Slovenia are done with the matches of the second competition week. For the third, they will head to Pasay City, Philippines, where they will first meet Poland on July 5, at 19:00 local time (11:00 UTC).

Earlier on Saturday in Orleans, Japan checked off yet another opponent to extend their winning streak since the start of the VNL to eight matches. They played a second five-setter in a row, this time overcoming Argentina on the way to a dramatic 3-2 (25-18, 25-22, 31-33, 22-25, 15-12) victory, and still lead the standings, on an 8-0 win-loss record and 22 points. The South Americans are fifth on 5-3 and 16. Ran Takahashi was the best scorer of the match on 32 points. Kento Miyaura added another 28, while Luciano Palonsky was Argentina’s most productive player with 22 points.

Friday’s matches in Orleans offered two straight-set games with Argentina mastering a 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-22) shutout of Bulgaria and France delivering a 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-20) sweep of Cuba to register their second win since the start of the season.

There will be one more game in Orleans on Saturday. In the late match, starting at 21:00 local time (19:00 UTC), the hosts will entertain Canada.

Volleyball Nations League 2023: full schedule and results

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