Brasile e Cina, Turchia e Italia si contendono i posti in semifinale della VNL

La città americana di Arlington è pronta per la seconda giornata delle Finali della Volleyball Nations League 2023, giovedì, quando al College Park Center si disputeranno le ultime due partite dei quarti di finale femminili.

La seconda giornata di gare in Texas inizierà presto, con Brasile e Cina che si affronteranno alle 10:30 ora locale (15:30 UTC) e proseguirà con l'incontro tra Turchia e Italia alle 14:00 ora locale (19:00 UTC).

• Watch Volleyball Nations League 2023 Finals live on VBTV

The winners of the match between Brazilians and Chinese will play Poland or Germany, who face each other on Wednesday, while Turkish or Italians will meet the team that advances from the duel involving hosts USA and Japan, also on Wednesday. The semifinals will be held on Saturday, with the medal matches ending the event on Sunday.

After taking silver in the last three editions of the VNL, Brazil will try to push for gold in 2023 after finishing fourth in the Preliminary Phase with eight victories.

Ranked third in the FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Rankings, the South Americans had star outside hitter Gabriela ‘Gabi’ Guimarães available in the last week of the Preliminary Phase and got even stronger in the middle, with two-time Olympic champion middle blocker Thaisa Menezes returning to the national team after five years to join Ana Carolina ‘Carol’ da Silva in the position.

“We’ve been studying China for a while,” head coach José ‘Zé Roberto’ Guimarães commented. “They are very strong in the middle, so serving well and giving our blockers a better chance to make plays would be key for us.”

China were fifth in the Preliminary Phase with the same eight wins and 24 points as Brazil, but ranked below the South Americans because of their slightly lower set ratio. The teams met in their first match in the Preliminary Phase, back in May, and the Asians won in the tie-breaker, securing their third victory in the last five encounters between the teams.

La battitrice esterna Li Yingying è stata molto forte offensivamente per le cinesi e il suo legame con la palleggiatrice Diao Linyu sembra più nitido che mai.

**Volleyball Nations League 2023: full schedule and results**

Terza miglior squadra della Fase Preliminare con nove vittorie in 12 partite, la Turchia cercherà di migliorare la medaglia d'argento vinta nel 2018 e il bronzo conquistato nel 2021.

Le europee hanno un nuovo allenatore, Daniele Santarelli, che ha lasciato la Serbia dopo averla guidata al titolo mondiale lo scorso anno, e hanno accolto una nuova straordinaria arma offensiva, l'opposto di origine cubana Melissa Vargas, che si aggiunge a un nucleo forte formato dalle centrali Eda Erdem e Zehra Gunes e dall'opposto Ebrar Karakurt.

Defending champions Italy preserved their main stars during the Preliminary Phase and still managed to make it to the Finals and have a chance to defend their title by winning eight of their 12 matches and finishing sixth.

“In the Finals, every match will be difficult,” said outside hitter Francesa Villani. “We’re very confident and positive because of what we did in the Preliminary Phase and I think it’s going to be a good match against Türkiye. We have grown a lot as a team and entering this match, we need to focus on what happens on our side of the net.”

The 12 matches of the Preliminary Phase proved to be of great value for some young players such as opposite Sylvia Nwakalor and outside hitter Loveth Omoruyi to earn some much-needed playing time and they will now be viable options for the European champions in the Finals alongside veterans such as captain Miryam Sylla and middle blocker Anna Danesi.

Il duello tra turchi e italiani durante la Fase Preliminare si è svolto l'ultimo giorno della settimana inaugurale, ad Antalya, e i turchi hanno approfittato del sostegno del pubblico di casa per prevalere in tre set - hanno vinto tre degli ultimi cinque incontri tra le squadre.

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