Brazil outlast Italy in five-set thriller to reach VNL final (Photos)

Brazil knocked out defending two-time back-to-back women’s Volleyball Nations League champions Italy from the race for another gold, outlasting them in an exciting five-set semifinal in Macao on Saturday.

In front of three and a half thousand spectators at the East Asian Games Dome, the battle between the number one and number two teams in the FIVB World Ranking, a remake of last year’s final, went 3-2 (21-25, 25-21, 26-24, 21-25, 15-12) the way of Brazil.

The South American giants advanced to their fifth final in the history of the competition and will be looking for their first VNL gold in Sunday’s showdown against the winner of the other semifinal, between Turkiye and Finals hosts China.

For the first time, Italy will play in the bronze medal match. The previous three times they made it to the last four, they always claimed the title.

With middle blocker Sarah Fahr instrumental both in blocking and in attack, Italy took the first set.

It was very competitive through 20-19 their way, after which they hammered four in a row to bring in set point.

Brazil denied it twice before opposite Paola Egonu nailed the 25-21 winner.

Her counterpart Rosamaria Montibeller spearheaded the Brazilian offense in set two, as the South Americans stayed in control through most of the set.

They survived a late scare, when Italy scored three in a row to get back to within two at 23-21, as outside hitter Julia Bergmann delivered set point with a spike down the line and her 22-year-old cross-court teammate Ana Cristina converted it to 25-21 close with a powerful block-out hit.

Bergmann was in charge at the net during set three, as Brazil once again maintained a lead through most of the set.

Italy, however, managed to wipe out the four-set deficit they had at 19-15 and eventually pushed the set to overtime.

This time, Ana Cristina brought in Brazil’s second set point with a thunderous swing and Bergmann converted it to a 26-24 win with a monster block against Egonu.

Determined to push this duel to five, Egonu stepped up her effort and helped Italy stay ahead on the scoreboard throughout set four.

In the end, 22-year-old outside Stella Nervini’s spike kill put the Europeans at set point. A moment later, Egonu nailed the 25-21 winner in attack.

The drama on the court continued in the tie-breaker.

With four points in a row, Italy battled back from a 9-5 deficit to level the score, but after 11-11, Brazil ran off again, scoring three in a row with a kill block delivering a triple match point. 

On their second opportunity to close it off, Ana Cristina fired the 15-12 winner to get the Brazilian party started.

In this even battle, Brazil slightly outperformed Italy in offense by 64-63 in spike kills, and in serving by 4-3 in aces.

Ana Cristina was above all in scoring with a match-high 23 points, including one ace.

Bergmann and Rosamaria added 15 points apiece.

22-year-old middle blocker Luzia da Silva Nezzo also reached the double digits with 10 points, including an ace and a third of Brazil’s kill blocks in the match.

“I think it was a team win again. Everybody was trusting each other. We knew that everybody was going to run after the ball, hit hard, be there for cover… We believed from the first point that we could win this match,” Bergmann told VBTV. “I am so happy that we beat this amazing team of Italy. We’ll celebrate a little bit and be ready for tomorrow.”

Italy also piled up 12 kill blocks – with captain Anna Danesi and Fahr authoring four each – and made one unforced error fewer than their opponents, 28 against 29.

Nervini and Egonu led the European team with 15 points each. Outside Myriam Sylla added another 12, while Danesi and Fahr finished with 11 and 10, respectively.

“The positive thing was that we never gave up, also when were 2-1 down, and stayed there trying to bring this match home,” said Danesi. “But today we didn’t. We didn’t play really well in block and defense, while Brazil did an amazing job. So, congrats to them and good luck for the final! And, of course, good luck to us for our final, because bringing home a medal is always important. It will be difficult to refocus, because if you believe in something and you can’t reach it, it’s complicated, but we’ll try to take all the energy together and win the third place.”

Brazil’s opponent in Sunday’s final and Italy’s opponent in the third-place match will emerge from Saturday’s second semifinal between Turkiye and hosts China, set to serve off at 16:00 local time (08:00 UTC).

Photos