There is no shortage of volleyball fever in Manila as the Filipino capital hosts one of the pools during the last competition week of the men’s Volleyball Nations League 2024 Preliminary Phase. And the excitement on the stands is fed some spectacular volleyball battles on the court. So far, four of the seven matches in Manila have been decided in tie-breaker sets. In the latest one on Thursday, USA won a gigantic clash with Brazil just a day after losing to Iran, also in five sets. Iran, on the other hand, produced another five-set win on Thursday, over the Netherlands marking the team’s first two victories since the start of the competition. Dutch star opposite Nimir Abdel-Aziz hammered out an astonishing 75 points (including 14 aces) in just two matches so far, but the Netherlands are yet to score a win in Manila.
Spectacular five-set battles spark excitement in Manila
Out-of-this-world Nimir shines bright in Netherlands’ setbacks
Published 03:17, 20 Jun 2024
Nimir Abdel-Aziz
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USA: Lose some, win some
Outside hitter Torey Defalco and middle blocker Maxwell Holt powered the Americans to a 3-2 (25-21, 18-25, 25-21, 22-25, 15-9) victory over Brazil on Thursday. Defalco led the team’s scorers with 21 points, including three aces, while Holt impressed with five kill blocks, in addition to two aces and nine kills in attack to finish with 16 points. Brazilian opposite Alan Souza produced the match high of 26 points. His teammate, outside Lukas Bergmann, added another 19 points.
The Americans went through another five-setter on Wednesday, but came out on the losing end handing Iran their first win of the season. The Asian team celebrated a 3-2 (26-28, 25-23, 25-18, 26-28, 15-13) victory with four of the five sets decided by the narrowest of margins. Furthermore, both sets won by USA ended in overtime. Defalco outscored everyone on the court and finished with a fantastic tally of 33 points, including two blocks and an ace. 19-year-old outside Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh Firouzjah spearheaded the winners with 23 points. His cross-court teammate and captain Milad Ebadipour added another 20.
Out-of-this-world Nimir’s prolific spiking and serving not enough to power Netherlands to success
Finally working up some appetite for winning, Iran repeated their success on Thursday, persevering through another five-setter to celebrate their second victory in the tournament, 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 25-21, 20-25, 15-10) over the Netherlands. But it was Dutch star Nimir Abdel-Aziz, who impressed the most on the court. He fired as many as nine aces (!) to top the charts with an amazing 37 points. The Dutch scored a total of 13 aces in the match, but Iran responded with 13 kill blocks, which eventually tilted the balance their way. Opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad led the winners with 29 points, followed by Poriya with 27, with each raising three kill blocks towards the team’s success.
Nimir was even more fired up when the Netherlands met Brazil in Tuesday’s opening match. The South Americans achieved the victory in “only” four sets, but two of them were pushed to overtime - 3-1 (24-26, 25-23, 31-29, 25-20). However, the Dutch opposite hammered out 38 points for his team, again with a high number of aces – five. But the opponents’ better blocking proved decisive in this match too. Middle Flavio Gualberto raised half of Brazil’s 12 kill blocks. The other six were evenly split between other middle Lucas Saatkamp and opposite Darlan, who also put away three aces to lead his team with a total of 26 points.
Canada make push towards the Finals
In Tuesday’s late match, Canada and Japan set the tone for the five-set duels in Manila. The North Americans managed a 3-2 (25-21, 20, 25, 25-15, 20-25, 15-10) victory, with outside Stephen Maar leading the way with 24 points, while Yuki Ishikawa and Yuji Nishida scored 19 points apiece for the Asian side.
Canada followed up with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 26-20) shutout of Germany on Thursday. Maar and opposite Arthur Szwarc were the best scorers of the only straight-setter in Manila so far, each contributing 15 points to the team’s victory.
The North Americans improved to a 6-4 win-loss record and 18 points, climbing to fifth place in the current standings and getting closer to securing a spot at next week’s VNL Finals in Poland. After the setback, the Germans are down to 12th place on 4-6 and 12, slightly floating away from the Finals, despite starting their week with an impressive 3-1 (25-23, 25-27, 25-20, 25-23) upset of reigning Olympic champions France on Wednesday. Experienced opposite Gyorgy Grozer delivered a match-high 21 points towards that win.
Despite the losses in their Manila openers, France and Japan are still in good positions to aim for the Finals, in places sixth and seventh, respectively, on 6-3 and 17 each. Canada are just above them, two points short of fourth-placed Brazil. USA are still below the red line for qualification, in 11th place on 4-6 and 12, but the Finals are still within reach.
BACK WHERE IT ALL STARTED 🤩…
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