Gabi pulls Brazil out of trouble against Bulgarian teens

Brazil has mainly experienced Gabriela Guimaraes and Thaisa Menezes to thank for pulling the team out of more serious trouble against a young Bulgarian team on Tuesday. In their FIVB Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifier Pool B encounter on the third competition day in Tokyo, Brazil registered their third win of the tournament, but lost two sets and a point to a team at an average age of 21. Furthermore, it was two Bulgarian teenagers, 17-year-old setter Margarita Guncheva and 18-year-old opposite Mikaela Stoyanova, who came in as substitutions to lead the team to an unexpected 2-1 advantage, before the mighty South Americans managed to turn things around again to a victory. It was Bulgaria’s first two sets won of the tournament in the Japanese capital.

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Brazil were well in control of the first set and reached a 21-16 advantage in the second, when Guncheva and Stoyanova subbed in to help change the course of the set. Bulgaria scored eight in a row to reach set point and a rally later levelled the match. The two youngsters stayed on for the third set and soon Bulgaria enjoyed a five-point lead. Brazil caught up to prompt a hard-fought race into overtime. With Gabi on fire, the Brazilians denied three Bulgarian set points to get one of their own, but with two points in a row by a brilliant Mariya Krivoshiyska and an ace by Maria Yordanova, the Europeans found themselves with a 2-1 lead. In the next two sets, the situation went back to business as usual with Brazil regaining control on the way to a tie-breaker victory. Middle blocker Diana Duarte Alecrim put the ball on the floor for the match winner.

Gabi emerged as the best scorer of the match. The 29-year-old star captain piled up 26 points, including two aces and a block. 36-year-old middle blocker Thaisa impressed with seven kill blocks towards a 19-point tally. Rosamaria Montibeller added another four stuffs to finish with 11 points. Four players reached the double digits on the Bulgarian side: Yordanova with 19 points, Stoyanova and captain Miroslava Paskova-Kaneva with 13 each and opposite Radostina Marinova with 12.

Earlier in the day, another big favourite, Volleyball Nations League and European champions Türkiye, struggled a bit in their match against Peru, but managed to take away the three points after saving a Peruvian set point in the overtime of the fourth set for a win. The Turks outscored the Peruvians on all counts, but also made more unforced errors than the opponents to make the game more difficult for themselves.

Ebrar Karakurt played opposite and led Türkiye with 22 points, including two aces, while her Peruvian counterpart Maria Paula Rodriguez finished with 20. Melissa Vargas was not part of Türkiye’s main line-up, but received a call of duty to enter the court in sets two and four. She was the one who delivered the match winner with an ace.

Hosts Japan mastered their third straight-set victory of the tournament to lead the current pool standings on a perfect record so far. In Tuesday’s late match, opposite Arisa Inoue hammered out a match-high 24 points, all in attack, towards Japan’s shutout of Puerto Rico. Brittany Abercombie scored 18 times for the opponents.

In the first match of the day, Argentina delivered a sweep of their game against Belgium to celebrate their first win of the competition. Daniela Bulaich led the team with 13 points, while Belgium’s Manon Stragier was the best scorer of the match with 14.

FIVB Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifiers: schedule and results

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