VNL DAY 1 BRAZIL NETHERLANDS/June 18, 2024
Games Wednesday
(Mall of Asia Arena)
3 p.m. – Germany vs France
7 p.m. – USA vs Iran
Former champion Brazil repelled the 38-point eruption of NimirAbdel-Aziz for a gutsy 24-26, 25-23, 31-29, 25-20 win over the Netherlands o open the crucial Week 3 of the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) men’s tournament on a high note Tuesday, June 18, at the jampacked Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Darlan Ferreria Souza fired 28 points on 20 hits while four more players scored at least eight points as the Brazilians leaned on a scattered attack to neutralize the explosion of ace spiker Abdel-Asiz.
From sixth place after the first two legs, world No. 4 Brazil leaped to third place at 6-3 with already nine points to shore up its drive for a ticket in the Final Round in Poland later this month.
“It’s a very tough game. All games will be very tough, especially this week with everybody trying to reach the finals. It’s an important win for us,” said Darlan, who also added three blocks and three aces.
Coming off a dismal 16-25 16-25, 15-25 defeat against Germany two weeks ago in Japan, Brazil had a sluggish start anew in surrendering a close opening salvo as Abdel-Asiz found his mark early to push the Dutchmen to a 26-24 win.
Brazil was comfortably ahead, 23-21, but failed to finish the job.
But it proved a different story in the next three frames, with Souza drawing solid coverage from Lucas Saatkamp, FlavioResende Gualberto, captain Ricardo Lucarelli and Yoandy Leal Hidalgo for the win in 116 minutes.
Saatkamp had 12, Gualberto chipped in 11 while Lucarelli and Hidalgo added nine and eight points, respectively for the Brazilians, whose biggest win came in the extended third set following a 31-29 escape act off a Gualberto hit.
There was no stopping the 2022 VNL tilist from there on with a 25-20 win in the fourth set amidst a fiery fightback by Abdel-Asiz, who only had Maarten Van Garderena as the other double-digit scorer for the Netherlands.
The struggling Netherlands slipped to 3-6 at 13th place.
Brazil, which already booked a ticket to the Paris Olympics, will have world No. 5 USA next at 7 p.m. on Thursday while the Netherlands eyes revenge Iran at 3 p.m. on the same day.
