Brazil sweep China and get to the top of the standings

A strong performance in their second match in the second week of the Volleyball Nations League 2025 in Chicago took Brazil to the top of the tournament’s standings on Thursday.

One day after sweeping Canada in their first match at the NOW Arena, the South Americans did the same to China, taking the Asians down 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-23) to secure their fourth straight victory in the tournament.

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The first team to claim five victories in the VNL 2025, the Brazilians got to 15 points and are now at the top of the VNL standings. They passed Poland, which have 13 points and didn’t play on Thursday – the Europeans can return to first place on Friday, when they face Canada at 19:30 local time (00:30 GMT, Saturday) in Chicago.

Opposite Alan Souza, who earned a spot in the team’s starting lineup in their last match in Rio de Janeiro two weeks ago, continued to produce for Brazil and led the team against the Chinese with a match-high 17 points (12 kills, four blocks, one ace). Outside hitter Henrique Honorato added 14, with 12 kills and two aces.

On the Chinese side, opposite Wen Zihua, with 15 points (all in kills), and outside hitter Zhai Dejun, with 11 (ten kills, one block), were the most productive.

Brazil will need to work hard to keep the top spot in the VNL 2025 standings over the weekend as, after having a day off on Friday, the South Americans will play reigning world champions Italy on Saturday and Paris Olympic silver medalists and FIVB World Ranking leaders Poland on Sunday.

“We’ll rest a little bit on Friday, but also prepare for the weekend,” outside hitter Lukas Bergmann said. “Our next match is against a really good team, and we need to focus on it. We’ll have just one training session, but we can adjust some details that didn’t work so well against China.”

The second match of the day in Chicago on Thursday will feature hosts the United States and Canada, starting at 19:30 local time (00:30 GMT, Friday).

VNL 2025 – Match Schedule & Results

On Friday, China and Italy will play first, at 16:00 (21:00 GMT), with Canada and Poland meeting later, at 19:30 (00:30 GMT, Saturday).

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