Italia e Brasile conquistano i posti del Pool B nel secondo turno.

Volleyball powerhouses Italy and Brazil will be among the eight national teams that will compete in the second round of the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U21 World Championship after they claimed their second victory in the tournament on Friday in Aguascalientes.

The two teams are guaranteed the top two spots in Pool B and will play each other on Saturday, at 11:00 local time (17:00 UTC), to finish first in the group ahead of the second round of the tournament. Japan and Türkiye have also advanced after the conclusion of the second day of matches in Mexico.

The tournament is streamed live on the Volleyball World YouTube channel.

The Italians, who finished second in the most recent edition of the U20 World Championship, in 2021, also in Mexico, got their second straight-set victory in the tournament with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-11, 25-13) triumph against the Dominican Republic.

Outside hitter Stella Nervini was, for the second-straight day, the leading Italian scorer with 15 points – opposite Anna Adelusi also reached double digits with ten. On the Dominican side, outside hitter Katielle Vargas had the most productive performance, with eight points.

Poche ore dopo, il Brasile, che vanta sei titoli mondiali nella categoria U20, ha dominato la Tunisia, ottenendo la seconda vittoria per 3-0 (25-9, 25-9, 25-15) ad Aguascalientes.

La centrale Luzia Nezzo, con sei uccisioni e sette blocchi, e l'esterno Aline Segato, con sette uccisioni, due ace e quattro blocchi, hanno guidato l'attacco brasiliano, contribuendo con 13 punti ciascuna. L'esterno e capitano della squadra Dhouha Engazou ha segnato sei punti per la Tunisia.

**2023 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U21 World Championship: Match Schedule and Results**

La situazione nella Pool C, invece, è completamente diversa, dato che ogni squadra entrerà nell'ultima giornata di pool con una sola vittoria e potrà contare solo sui propri sforzi per avanzare al turno successivo.

L'Argentina, che aveva perso contro la Polonia giovedì, è tornata più forte contro la Serbia venerdì e si è assicurata una vittoria cruciale per 3-1 (26-24, 21-25, 25-23, 25-18) grazie ai 19 punti della battitrice esterna Nicole Perez e ai 13 della centrale Avril Garcia.

Later, China, who had lost to Serbia, brought their best game against Poland and walked away with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-19) win. Chinese captain Yushan Zhuang left the court with 19 points, followed by fellow outside hitter Yifan Wang, who tallied 13.

On Saturday, Serbia will face Poland at 11:00 local time (17:00 UTC) and Argentina will play China at 14:00 local time (20:00 UTC). The winners will advance to the next round.

In Pool A, Japan were the first to secure their spot in the next round. The Asians were on the winning side of a five-set battle with Egypt, prevailing 3-2 (25-17, 19-25, 20-25, 25-16, 15-12) to get their second victory in Leon. The Japanese got 21 points from opposite Tsugumi Fukuzawa while her twin sister and outside hitter Megumi produced 16. Outside hitter Toqaallah Eassa registered 18 points for Egypt.

"Although we lost two sets, I didn't feel we weren't playing well," outside hitter Ai Hirota commented. "I thought that Egypt just did better than us on those sets. We just focused on trying to play the way we are used to and to get the result, and we did it."

On Saturday, at 20:00 local time (02:00 UTC, Sunday), Egypt will face Mexico, who took Thailand down 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-14) on Friday with 13 points from opposite Alexa Ramirez, and the winners will join the Japanese in the next round.

Based in Aguascalientes, Pool D has a similar scenario, with Türkiye getting to two wins and moving to the next round. The Europeans booked their tickets with a 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-23, 25-14) win over the United States in a match where outside hitter Eylul Durgun and opposite Beren Yesilirmak stepped up to tally 15 points each.

Con una vittoria in due partite, le americane decideranno ora la loro fede nel torneo contro i Paesi Bassi, che hanno superato Cuba per 3-0 (28-26, 25-16, 25-14) e sono ora al secondo posto nella pool - il loro duello inizierà alle 17:00 ora locale (23:00 UTC). La centrale Britte Stuut ha segnato 12 punti nella vittoria europea contro i Caraibi.

Le partite della pool si concluderanno sabato, con altri otto incontri a Leon e Aguascalientes. Dopo una giornata di riposo domenica, il secondo turno del torneo inizierà lunedì.

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