The Brazilian women’s volleyball team defeated Turkey 3-1 on Wednesday, while the Dominican Republic defeated Korea 3-0 on the first day of the second round of the knockout phase of the Nations League, which is being played in Brasilia.
Brazil, with a 3-1 victory with partials 19-25, 25-23, 25-23 and 25-23, came back from a match that was complicated in the first set and in which they had the unconditional support of the fans who came to the Nilson Nelson gymnasium in Brasilia, where the members of Group 3 of the League of Nations will play against each other until next Sunday.
The South American team, silver medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and first in the world ranking, had won three of the four matches they played in the first round – they only lost to the United States – and, with the new victory, moved up to fourth place in the overall ranking of the competition, with 12 points.
Brazil is two points behind leaders Japan, which has 14 points with five wins; one point behind China, second overall with 13 points and four wins, and shares the same 12 points with the United States, which is ahead by a better average.
The South Americans won at the pace of the leader Gabi, a player from the Turkish club Vakifbank, who made her debut today as captain of Brazil and was helped by Julia Bergmann and Kisy, who entered in the second set and ensured the comeback.
Brazil will still face Turkey on Thursday, the Netherlands on Saturday and Serbia on Sunday, also at the Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in Brasilia, before starting to prepare for the next round of the Nations League, which will be played in Sofia (Bulgaria).
The Dominicans, also playing in Brasilia, won an easy 3-0 victory over the Koreans, 25-21 25-17 and 25-13, which allowed them to get their first three points in the qualifying phase of the Nations League.
The “Queens of the Caribbean”, who lost all four matches they played in the last round, moved up to twelfth place in the overall standings, with 3 points, and are still far from the top seven, which advance to the finals.
The Dominican Republic had the two highest scorers in Wednesday’s match with Korea, thanks to the 19 points scored by Isabel Peña, 19 of which in attacks, and the 10 points scored by Brayelin Martinez. The best Korean was Hoyoung Jung, with 10 points.
The Caribbeans scored 41 points in attacks, 2 in serves and 26 in opponent’s errors, while the Asians were only better in blocks, with 8 points.
In the round played in Brasilia, the Dominicans will face the Italians on Thursday, the Dutch on Friday and the Germans on Sunday.
The qualifying phase of the Nations League is disputed by the top 16 teams in the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) rankings, divided into three groups and played in five different rounds in different venues between June and July.
The top seven in the overall standings at the end of all rounds will advance to the finals, to be played in the Turkish city of Ankara, where Turkey is already guaranteed to be the host.
