Japan and Slovenia, Poland and Brazil duel for last spots in the VNL semis

With national teams from three continents in action, the Volleyball Nations League 2023 Finals enter their second day on Thursday, when the last two quarterfinal duels will be played in Gdansk, Poland.

Japan and Slovenia will battle in the first match of the day at the Ergo Arena, at 17:00 local time (15:00 UTC), with hosts Poland and Brazil meeting in the second encounter, at 20:00 local time (18:00 UTC). The winners will meet in the semifinals, on Saturday.

• Watch Volleyball Nations League 2023 Finals live on VBTV

The first two quarterfinals of the VNL 2023 will be played on Wednesday, with the United States facing defending champions France at 17:00 local time (15:00 UTC) and world champions Italy meeting Tokyo Olympic bronze medalists Argentina at 20:00 local time (18:00 UTC).

Making their second appearance in the VNL Finals after a fifth-place finish last year, Japan led the Preliminary Phase for most of it, but dropped their last two matches and ended up in second place, behind the United States.

The firepower of outside hitters Yuki Ishikawa and Ran Takahashi and star opposite Yuji Nishida will be instrumental for the Japanese to make it to the semifinals for the first time.

Slovenia, who appeared in the VNL Finals in 2021, when they took fourth place, built from their strong start in the Preliminary Phase (six wins in seven matches) to advance again, ending the opening phase of the tournament in seventh place.

Known for their offensive power, the Europeans had one of the defensive standouts of the Preliminary Phase in libero Jani Kovačič, who’s confident about a good performance against the Japanese on Thursday.

“We came to Gdansk fairly rested and ready to play a good game against the Japanese,” he said. “We’ll be ready for them.”

Japanese and Slovenians didn’t meet in the Preliminary Phase of the VNL 2023 and their most recent encounter happened in the 2022 edition of the tournament, when the Asians prevailed. Considering the last five duels, though, the Europeans have a 3-2 advantage.

Volleyball Nations League 2023: full schedule and results

Hosts Poland will once again have their passionate fans behind them in Gdansk after finishing third in the Preliminary Phase with ten wins. The Europeans competed in the Finals of each of the first four editions of the VNL, finishing second in 2021, third in 2018 and 2022 and fifth in 2019.

With offensive superstars Wilfredo Leon and Bartosz Kurek in good form after being rested in part of the Preliminary Phase, the Europeans will have them at full strength in Gdansk.

Brazil are also making their fifth appearance in the VNL Finals – the South Americans won the title in 2021, were fourth in 2018 and 2019 and sixth last year. This season, they ranked sixth in the Preliminary Phase with eight victories.

Sidelined during the entire Preliminary Phase, star outside hitter Yoandy Leal will be available for selection during the Finals, significantly increasing the team’s firepower in the offense run by setter and team captain Bruno Rezende.

“Playing with the fans against us is always difficult, but we like that type of challenge,” libero Maique Nascimento reflected. “We’re expecting a very difficult match, as it was in the Preliminary Phase, especially with a spot in the semifinals in play. We’ve prepared well and studied their game.”

The match mentioned by Maique was the four-set Polish victory in the last week of the Preliminary Phase, in Pasay City, the Philippines. That marked the third-straight victory of the Europeans over the South Americans, who were the winners in the two previous encounters.

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