Slovenia averts disaster versus China; Italy, Brazil deliver contrasting VNL wins

MANILA, Philippines – Slovenia quickly bounced back from its heartbreaking five-set reverse sweep loss to Poland in the ongoing 2023 Volleyball Men’s Nations League (VNL), this time trouncing lowly China in four, 25-21, 25-20, 24-26, 25-23, at the Mall of Asia Arena on Thursday, July 6.

In Slovenia’s second game in as many days, Klemen Cebulj once again led all scorers with 21 points on 18 attacks, 2 blocks, and 1 ace, while Ziga Stern backstopped with 18 points.

Tine Urnaut and Jan Kozamernik scored 13 apiece, with the latter delivering clutch hits and the game-winning ace in the fourth set’s twilight from down 22-23.

Slovenia, ranked No. 8 in the world, elected to sit out fan favorite Rok Mozic after a 17-point effort against Poland last Wednesday, July 5.

China, which blew a 16-11 lead midway through the fourth set and a 23-22 advantage later in the frame, now sits at a 2-8 record for 13th place in the 16-team field.

Jingyin Zhang paced the loss with 16 points, while Yuantai Yu was not far behind with 15.

With the win, Slovenia now enters a three-way tie with Italy and Brazil with identical 7-3 records.

Italy, however, only has 20 points compared to the other countries’ 22, as it needed five sets to dispose of Canada, 25-14, 23-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-9, in the middle game of the day’s triple-header.

Alessandro Michieletto led the hard-fought win with 18 points on 14 attacks, 3 blocks, and 1 ace while Gianluca Galassi and Yuri Romano scored 17 points apiece.

Ryan Sclater led all scorers with 22 in the loss that sent Canada down to a 2-8 slate for a 13th-place tie with China.

In contrast to Italy’s marathon, Brazil cruised to a 25-21, 25-15, 25-20 decision over the Netherlands in the day’s curtain-raiser, with Henrique Honorato and Lucas Saatkamp serving as pacesetters with team-highs of 10 points each.

Wouter Ter Maat led the losing side also with 10 points, while captain Nimir Abdel-Aziz settled for just 8 following a 24-point outburst against Canada the day prior.

Holding a 5-5 record, the Netherlands still hangs on to seventh place over 7-2 Poland due to a superior point total, 17-16. – Rappler.com