Spectacular Hancock leads USA to another dramatic victory

Olympic champions the United States survived their second big test in three days on Friday and continue on a roll in the opening week of the Volleyball Nations League 2023 in Antalya, Türkiye.

Two days after making their debut in this year’s edition of the tournament with a dramatic five-set victory over reigning world champions Serbia, the Americans played another tie-breaker in order to overcome defending VNL champions Italy 3-2 (25-16, 14-25, 22-25, 25-20, 15-9) in Pool 1 at the Antalya Sports Hall.

• Watch Volleyball Nations League 2023 live on VBTV

Setter and team captain Micha Hancock ran the American offense brilliantly, having all her five starting hitters leave the court with more than ten points. The 30-year-old, left-handed setter also scored a couple of points herself, with a kill and a block.

“It was an all-team effort,” she said. “Everyone was ready to come off the bench. Italy is a great team and a lot of us play club there, so they know us well. It’s always interesting when we play them, so I knew that getting everyone involved would make the match harder for them. My job is pretty easy. All these girls have very long arms, so all I have to do is get the ball up for them. We have a relentless attitude when we’re all together and it’s just fun to see a bunch of young girls doing so well.”

Getting on the end of Hancock’s sets, outside hitters Khalia Lanier (16 points) and Veronica Perry-Jones (15), middle blockers Dana Rettke (14) and Asjia O’Neal (11) and opposite Annie Drews (12) all reached double digits in scoring.

Despite the defeat, Italy had three top scorers in the match in opposite Sylvia Nwakalor, who scored 20 points (17 kills, three blocks), and outside hitters Loveth Omoruyi and Myriam Sylla, who produced 17 and 16, respectively.

The number of errors produced by the Italians proved the be the major difference in the match as the Europeans handed 31 points to the Americans, who generated 22 for their opponents. There was great balance in kills, with Italy leading 60-58, blocks, with nine for each side, and aces, with the Europeans having a 4-3 advantage.

Volleyball Nations League 2023: full schedule and results

Before the duel between Americans and Italians, two other matches took place during the day in Antalya, with Poland securing their third victory in the VNL 2023 and Canada claiming their first triumph in the tournament.

After wins over Canada and Italy, Poland were faced with Thailand and had a strong performance against the Asians, getting a three-set (25-20, 25-16, 25-15) victory. Outside hitter Martyna Lukasik registered 11 points for the Poles, one more than the total obtained by Chatchu-On Moksri for Thailand.

A few hours later, Canada celebrated their first victory in the VNL 2023 with a sweep (25-17, 25-16, 25-18) of Korea. Middle blocker Layne Van Buskirk and outside hitter Alexa Gray led the North American’s victory with 18 and 11 points, respectively – outside hitter Kim Miyoun produced ten points for Korea.

Saturday’s scheduled in Antalya will feature three more matches and will have European rivals Poland and Serbia clashing at 14:00 local time (11:00 UTC), the United States facing Korea at 17:00 local time (14:00 UTC) and another European Derby reuniting Türkiye and Italy ending the day at 20:00 local time (17:00 UTC).

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