BY ABBY TORALBA
BRAZIL trounced The Netherlands yesterday, scoring an easy 25-21, 25-15, 25-20 win while Italy fended off a gritty challenge from Canada 25-14, 23-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-9 to stay within striking distance of the leaders in Week 3 of the Volleyball Nations League men’s tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Italy and Brazil, long-time Olympic foes, moved up to joint third with similar 7-3 records although the Brazilians hold a slight sets advantage at 22-20 in the critical final leg of the 16-team VNL gearing up for the 8-team finals in Poland from July 19 to 24.
Still smarting from their tough defeat to Italy last Tuesday, the Brazilians bounced back in style, winning in just 72 minutes to move to joint third behind unbeaten Japan (9-0) and the United States (8-1) as the world No. 4 Italians recovered from a collapse in the fourth set to scrape past the hard-fighting Canadians.
Brazil, ranked No. 3 in the world and the 2021 VNL champion, silenced Dutch ace Nimir Abdel-Aziz, the world’s top-ranked spiker, while launching attacks from all fronts to avenge its 23-25, 20-25, 25-15, 21-25 loss to Italy two days ago.
Henrique Honorato and Lucas Saatkamp had 10 points each while Ricardo Lucarelli Souza and Alan Souza had nine each in a lethal Brazilian quartet combo with the world’s best setter in Bruno Mossa Rezende preparing the table with 10 sets and a point.
“We tried to limit their strong attackers. They have the best (opposite) spiker in the world in Nimir and we made a great job blocking him. That was the main thing in this win,” said Rezende, Brazil’s team captain.
Abdel-Aziz, after a 24-point eruption in a 25-22, 25-22, 17-25, 25-18 win over Canada on Wednesday, bled for eight points as the Netherlands played catch-up to the in-form Brazil all match long.
The win primed up Brazil against world No. 1 Poland today.
Wouter Ter Maat, with 10 points, was the only bright spot for the world No. 10 Netherlands, which stayed at No. 8 with a 5-5 card but should be wary of the ninth-running and reigning champion France (4-5).
Alessandro Michieletto showed the way with 18 points on 14 hits, three blocks and an ace while Gianluca Galassi and Yuri Romano carded 17 points apiece to rescue the Italians from a near upset.
Roberto Russo and Daniele Lavia added 15 and 10 points, respectively, for Italy, which raced to a 2-1 lead sparked by an easy 25-14 win in the opening set.
On the verge of a four-set triumph, Italy took a 23-21 cushion on a Galassi kill before being blanked the rest of the way, paving the way for a deciding fifth set.
Italy battles Slovenia today while world No. 16 Canada faces
Poland on Saturday.
