Brazil (13-6 record overall) began the 2019 VNL final match, their first-ever in the competition, in front of 6,000 spectators in Nanjing (China) in a powerful manner, taking the lead in sets of 2-0. But, in the finish of the second set, at 18-18, Natália Pereira felt the muscular pain in her left leg, went out of the court and did not return for the rest of the match. And, until that moment, she shone with 9 points.
The USA took advantage of the nervousness of Brazil’s players afterward and, driven by an inspired Andrea Drews who scored 33 points and Kelsey Robinson who noted 15, with both tallying 5 points in the tie-break, broke the spirit of the rivals: 3-2 (20-25, 22-25, 25-15, 25-21, 15-13). Lauren Carlini added 4 kill blocks for the winning side, who have won 9 straight VNL matches (16-3 overall), approaching its longest streak at major world level tournaments of 10, which they set in the last year’s edition of the VNL.
Gabriela Guimarães “Gabi” and Lorenne Teixeira scored 20 points apiece for the “Seleção” with the latter putting down 6 in the tie-break. Still, both top-scorers of Brazil had an unsatisfying attack success rate for such an important match like this one: Gabi 29% (16/55) and Lorenne 36.4% (16/44). Mara Leão and Ana Beatriz Corrêa “Bia” set up 4 kill blocks apiece.
China’s “B” squad managed to seize the bronze medal as they beat last year’s runners-up Turkey by a 3-1 (25-23, 25-15, 20-25, 25-21), repeating the result from the 2018 VNL.
Liu Yanhan top-scored for China with 23 points, while Gong Xiangyu made 4 kill blocks. The youngster Ebrar Karakurt notched 31 points for Turkey. Kübra Çalışkan served 4 aces.
2019 FIVB Women’s Volleyball Nations League, Final Six:
Bronze medal match:
Turkey – China 1-3 (23-25, 15-25, 25-20, 21-25)
Final:
Brazil USA 2-3 (25-20, 25-22, 15-25, 21-25, 13-15)
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