VNL: Italy snaps Japan’s 10-0 start in stunner; mighty Poland, Brazil cruise anew

MANILA, Philippines – With a take-no-prisoners attitude, Italy again stayed red-hot in the Manila leg of the 2023 Volleyball Men’s Nations League (VNL), stunning once-unbeaten Japan in four airtight sets, 29-27, 28-26, 23-25, 25-20, at the packed Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday, July 8.

With practically nothing at stake as both teams are already quarterfinal shoo-ins, Yuri Romano led the Italian masterclass with 22 points off 16 attacks, 3 blocks, and 3 aces.

Daniele Lavia and Alessandro Michieletto rounded out the supporting offense with 18 and 14 points, respectively, for Italy, which rose to a 9-3 record and leapfrogged three spots up to second place in the tournament.

Despite feeling the brunt of resting fan favorite spiker Ran Takahashi, Japan composed itself with a third-set squeaker from two frames down and held momentum in the fourth with a 16-12 lead.

Unfortunately for many Filipino fans in attendance, there was no light at the end of Japan’s comeback tunnel as Italy stole back control with a huge 13-4 finishing kick, highlighted with uncharacteristic Japan errors and capped off with a game-winning Gianluca Galassi block on Yuji Nishida.

Japanese skipper Yuki Ishikawa paced the heartbreaking loss with 21 points, backstopped with 20 from Nishida. Tatsunori Otsuka also chipped in 15 points for Japan, which saw its 10-0 start to the tournament unceremoniously snapped with one assignment left in the Manila leg.

Meanwhile, world No. 1 Poland gritted its way through a nip-and-tuck sweep of Canada, 25-21, 25-23, 27-25, led by a pair of 11-point outings from Kamil Semeniuk and Norbert Huber.

Lukasz Kaczmarek added 10 points in the much-needed three-set win that helped Poland rise to sixth in the tournament with a 9-2 record, while Aleksander Sliwka scored 8.

This was Poland’s first three-set win (3 points) in its collection of three four-setters (3 points) and a tournament-high five five-set wins (2 points). Because these handful of games went the distance, Poland (22 points) is only tied with Slovenia despite the latter holding just a 7-4 record.

Samuel Cooper paced 14th-ranked Canada (2-9) with a game-high 19 points off 15 attacks, 3 aces, and 1 block, while Arthur Szwarc added 16 points.

Brazil likewise swept bottom-dwelling China in the curtain-raiser, albeit in much more dominant fashion, 25-19, 25-17, 25-17, over just a 66-minute span.

Felipe Roque led the way with 17 points, while Otavio Pinto scored 11 as Brazil rose to third place with an 8-4 record. Bin Wang, meanwhile, was the lone Chinese player in double-digit scoring with 11 points.

Locked in a triple tie at a 2-9 record with Canada and Cuba, China got the shortest end of the stick at 16th place due to an inferior set ratio to the other two squads. – Rappler.com