With both sides already with guaranteed spots at the Volleyball Nations League 2023 Finals in Gdansk, Poland and Brazil put up a four-set battle, in which outside hitter Wilfredo Leon led the Europeans to a victory in a Pool 6 game in Pasay City on Friday. The hosts of the Finals are already on an 8-2 win-loss record and 19 points in third place in the current standings. Brazil stand sixth on 7-4 and 22.
VNL 2023
Leon fuels Poland to big win over Brazil
The star outside brings in 22 points in a four-set match
Published 05:15, 07 Jul 2023
- Watch Volleyball Nations League 2023 live on VBTV
While it was mostly a game of errors, with Brazil committing 34 against 27 on Poland’s side to make the big difference in the outcome, Leon also made a solid contribution of 22 points. He delivered an ace and a kill block, and spiked 20 points at a 61% success rate. Opposite Alan Souza was Brazil’s most prolific player with 17 points, including two blocks.
Brazil had a more productive offence than Poland during the first set, but also made abundant unforced errors, which allowed the Europeans to stay in control the entire set and reach five set points at 24-19. The South Americans denied the first four, but on the fifth, Leon nailed it cross court for his sixth point of the set and for 25-23. The second set was like a mirror image of the first one. This time Brazil had the initiative, thanks to some excellent serving from Ricardo Lucarelli and Lucas Saatkamp, while the Poles, spearheaded by captain Bartosz Kirek, killed plenty of points in attack, but also made too many mistakes. After they saved two Brazilian set points, a serving error from Jakub Kochanowski let the opponents celebrate a 25-22 close.
It was once again the unforced errors that tilted the balance in a hard-fought third set, this time in favour of Poland. Another mistake from the end line, this time a long serve by Saatkamp, closed the set at 25-21 the Europeans’ way. Scoring three in a row, Poland took an early 6-3 lead in the fourth set and, with Leon on fire, never let Brazil catch up again. Middle blocker Norbert Huber delivered the match winner with a first-tempo kill for 25-21.
Polish players celebrate
“To play against Brazil is always very emotional for us, especially for me. I know how heavy it is to play against them, but I’m always very happy when we win,” said Leon after the game. “When they put pressure on you with their serves, it is difficult to react sometimes, but I said to myself, ‘stay focused and you know what to do’. I need to say it’s pretty pleasant to play in front of these fans in the Philippines. It is amazing here! I am very happy that the fans come to watch this kind of game, especially in the early morning. I didn’t expect that they would scream my name...”
On Saturday, at 11:00 local time (03:00 UTC), Brazil will take on China. Four hours later, at 15:00 (07:00), Poland will face Canada.
Lucas Saatkamp and Bruno Rezende on the block against the Netherlands on Thursday
Brazil booked their ticket to Gdansk on Thursday, when they hammered out a shutout of the Netherlands, with Lucas Saatkamp shining with six kill blocks towards a 10-point match high and sharing the top scorer honours of the match with teammate Henrique Honorato and Dutchman Wouter Ter Maat. The Netherlands are on the edge, but still above the red line for advancement, in eighth place on a 5-5 win-loss record and 17 points, four clear of ninth-placed Serbia.
One more match was played in Pasay City on Thursday. Canada came back from a set down twice against reigning world champions Italy, with Ryan Sclater leading the way with 22 points, but failed to collect their third win of the competition and also remain at risk of relegation in 13th place on 2-8 and six. Just shy of booking a spot at the Finals yet, the Italians are in seventh place on 7-3 and 20 after their win over the North Americans. Alessandro Michieletto was their best scorer with 18 points.
Friday’s competition day in Pasay City continues with Slovenia v Italy at 15:00 local time (07:00 UTC) and Japan v Netherlands at 19:00 (11:00). In Pool 5 in Anaheim, Serbia and France will lock horns at 13:30 local time (20:30 UTC), Cuba will meet Germany at 17:00 (midnight UTC) and hosts USA will entertain Argentina at 20:30 (03:30 the next day).
