Italy, Japan, Türkiye and the United States are the four national teams still standing in the 2023 FIVB Girls’ U19 Volleyball World Championship in Osijek, Croatia, and Szeged, Hungary.

Play resumed on Wednesday after one day off and the four sides advanced from the quarterfinals of the tournament, which were all held in Osijek, and will play in the semifinals on Thursday – the medal matches will be held on Friday. Japan will play Türkiye in one of the semfiinals, with Italy and the United States meeting in the other.

The tournament is streamed live on the Volleyball World YouTube channel.

Japan were the first to secure a spot in the semifinals in Osijek, overcoming Asian rivals Thailand in a dramatic five-set battle, in which the Japanese managed to claim a 3-2 (25-20, 20-25, 25-20, 27-29, 15-10) victory.

Outside hitters Riri Kasai and Sae Omori were instrumental in the Japanese triumph, registering 25 and 19 points respectively. Thailand also had a pair of high-scoring outside hitters in the match as captain Warisara Seetaloed and Tanyapron Seeso left the court with 26 and 20 points.

Their next opponents, Türkiye needed just four sets to dominate Bulgaria on the second quarterfinal duel of the day in Osijek. The Turkish advanced to the semifinals with a 3-1 (25-22, 27-25, 22-25, 25-7) win.

Opposite Beren Yesilirmak led the winning offense with 20 points, while outside hitters Eylul Durgun and Liza Safronova scored 11 each. Bulgarian outside hitter Viktoria Koeva led all scorers with 21 points.

“We feel so good,” said middle blocker Begum Kacmaz. “We were so ambitious in this match, we wanted this win so much. We were winning, but then Bulgaria fought very hard. In the fourth set, we thought ‘OK, this is the World Championship, we have to do this’.”

2023 FIVB Volleyball Girls' U19 World Championship: Match Schedule and Results

The third quarterfinal also went to five sets and saw an incredible comeback from Italy over hosts Croatia. The Italians dropped the first two sets, but came back and managed to remain undefeated in the tournament with a 3-2 (22-25, 21-25, 25-20, 25-14, 15-13) win.

Outside hitter Lisa Esposito was huge in the Italian comeback, firing a match-high 26 points – outside hitter Erika Esposito and middle blocker Linda Manfredini contributed 18 and 15 points, respectively. Croatia had outside hitter Ana Burilovic as their main scorer with 19 points.

“I am more than happy right now, it’s so many emotions,” said Lisa Esposito. “Each day, this sport gives me new experiences. Playing such a great tie-breaker was really an incredible thing. For sure, we still have a lot of room for improvement. Now we need to win the semifinal because we want to be in the final. It was difficult today, Croatia played really well. They had the support from the crowd, but we also had our group of fans and this helped us get energized.”

In the fourth quarterfinal, another tie-breaker. The United States came back from a set down to turn the tables against longtime rivals Brazil and advanced to the semifinals with a 3-2 (21-25, 25-19, 25-19, 23-25, 15-11) victory.

Outside hitters Teraya Sigler and Abigail Vander Wal carried the American offense, with the first producing 29 points and the second adding another 23. On the Brazilian side, outside hitters Isabella Rocha and Vittoria Kuehne were the leading scorers, with 16 and 13 points respectively.

Eight more matches were played across Osijek and Szeged on Wednesday in order to determine the final positions from 9^th to 24^th place. In the playoffs from 9^th-16^th, Poland topped Egypt 3-1 (25-12, 25-27, 25-17, 25-17), China defeated Puerto Rico 3-1 (25-23, 25-21, 17-25, 25-20), Korea overcame Hungary 3-2 (25-22, 16-25, 25-18, 17-25, 16-14) and Argentina beat the Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-20).

In the playoffs from 17^th-20^th, Mexico prevailed over Canada 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-23) and Serbia secured a 3-0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-18) win over Peru. In the playoffs from 21^st-24^th, Germany defeated Chile 3-2 (22-25, 25-12, 25-19, 20-25, 15-11) and Cameroon claimed a forfeit win over Nigeria.

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