Diana blocks France in valiant effort to upset Brazil

Brazil did not allow France to drop a sensational upset in Thursday’s opening match in the women’s Volleyball Nations League. Thanks to a fantastic blocking effort, headlined by Diana Alecrim, the South Americans claimed a five-set victory over their European opponents in Chiba, Japan to improve to a 9-1 win-loss record and 25 points and rise to second place in the current VNL standings. France brought home a point, but whether it will bring them closer to qualifying to the Finals remains to be seen, as they are still in 11^th place on 3-7 and 11.

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Brazil came back from a set down twice in the match to push it to a fifth-set resolution. Middle blocker Diana authored as many as nine of Brazil’s 17 kill blocks that tilted the balance towards a 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 17-25, 25-21, 15-11) victory. With three stuffs in a row, Diana gave Brazil a 3-0 advantage at the start of the tie-breaker and that was a blow France never managed to recover from.

Brazil’s other middle, 22-year-old Julia Kudiess, also excelled with six kill blocks to her name, as well as with a 61% success rate in attack, to lead the team’s scorers with a total of 17 points. Diana finished on a total of 14, while star outside and captain Gabriela Guimaraes (Gabi) signed off with 13 points. Her counterpart Helena Cazaute spearheaded France’s valiant effort to deliver a sensational win with a match-high 33 points, including two aces. Opposite Iman Ndiaye put away another 19 points for France, including three aces and a block.

“Of course, we know that we didn’t play our best today. France, of course, played a really good match, especially Cazaute. We couldn’t find her with block and defense. But the team fought and that’s the most important. We were losing 2-1, but we didn’t give up. Still, we cannot play this kind of matches, with so many mistakes, and in some moments of the match we did not serve well. So there is a lot to improve and we are going to work on it,” Gabi told VBTV. “But this is Brazilian spirit - never give up and always fight for every ball.”

Thursday’s VNL competition day continues with an all-Asian clash between Korea and Japan in Chiba that is already underway. Next, Italy and Serbia will open the competition day in Apeldoorn, Netherlands at 17:00 local time (15:00 UTC).

Volleyball Nations League 2025: full schedule and results

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