Belgium
Belgium – Thailand 3-1 (26-24, 23-25, 25-20, 25-21)
Belgium finished this year’s competition with the victory. After three defeats in a row, Belgium outplayed Thailand and in that way scored the fourth win in VNL. On the other side, Thai team finished with only two wins.
Britt Herbots once again helped her team with 23 points while Kaja Grobelna scored 19 points. Chatchu-On Moksri scored 20 points and Ajcharaporn Kongyot 17 points for Thailand.
Turkey
China – Turkey 1-3 (26-28, 21-25, 25-20, 20-25)
A team of coach Guidetti closed this round with victory over the young team of China. This was the 11th win for Turkey who with two wins in a row will move to the final stage.
Although China dominated in the block during the whole match (15/4), Turkey were much better than the opponents in attack (71/51).
Hande Baladin scored 24 points followed by talented Ebrar Karakurt 16 points while Xiangyu Gong scored 18 points and Yingying Li 12 points for China.
Russia
Russia- Japan 3-2 (19-25, 25-14, 25-16, 23-25, 15-10)
Russian girls closed Week 5 with two wins and although they did not finish at the final tournament, they showed an acceptable play during the VNL. Same as Japan who all the time played with “ups and downs”.
Today, Russia scored 20 blocks, Angelina Lina Lazarenko dominated with 6 blocks and in the same time, she was the best scorer of the winning team with 18 points while Natalia Malykh and Irina Voronkova helped her with 16 and 15 points. Risa Shinnabe and Ai Kurogo scored 15 points each for Japan.
Ortolani
Italy – Brazil 3-2 (22-25, 25-20, 17-25, 25-19, 15-12)
Italy finished this year’s VNL with the victory, interesting with the eight consecutive win but unfortunately, they didn’t qualified to the Finals Six. Somehow they switched on a little bit late considering that they have begun the competition with four defeats and that they three matches won in the tie-break.
Today they outplayed Brazil who suffered the third defeat in VNL but that didn’t change anything since that Brazil already secured the spot in F6. Teams were equal during the whole match and Serena Ortolani was the top scorer with 20 points followed by Paola Egonu 16 points while Monique Pavão scored 16 points for Brazil.
NED
Germany – Netherlands 1-3 (21-25, 16-25, 26-24, 19-25)
The Netherlands expectedly defeated Germany and celebrated their 12th win in VNL but the fourth consecutive.
Nika Daalderop helped her team to finished Week 5 with all wins and today she scored 20 points while Juliet Lohuis 17 points. Lena Stigrot led Germany with 14 points.
POL-DOM
Poland – Dominican Republic 1-3 (18-25, 25-16, 21-25, 20-25)
Dominican girls scored the 13th win in VNL after seven consecutive defeats.
Everything was set up for Poland to take three home wins and to go on their longest winning streak for 44 years, but it was simply not to be. The “Queens of the Caribbean” were better. It was known from the start that a place at the Final 6 in China was already impossible for either team, so this match was purely for pride.
Yonkaira Paola Peña Isabel top scored with 19 points while Brayelin Elizabeth Martinez finished with 17 points. On the other side, Malwina Smarzek was the leading scorer again with 19 points,
Serbia
Korea – Serbia 0-3 (17-25, 20-25, 11-25)
Serbia finished Week 5 with all three wins in Santa Fe and ended the pool stage as the second-best team in VNL with 37 points.
This time they expectedly defeated Korea in three sets and Ana Bjelica once again was one of the leaders with 13 points. Maja Aleksić and Jelena Blagojević scored 10 points for Serbia. Jae-Yeong Lee was the only Korean player with double effect 10 points.
USA
Argentina – USA 0-3 (15-25, 14-25, 15-25)
Michelle Bartsch Hackley helped the table-topping USA to win their 13th win in Volleyball Nations League.
This easy victory for the Americans saw them draw level with Brazil for the most straight-sets triumphs at world level and, on this evidence, they could well go on and beat the record of 11 when they resume hostilities at the finals in China in 12 days time.
Bartsch-Hackley led the team from the front with 13 points followed by Andrea Drews (13 points) and TeTori Dixon (11 points).
The final stats were sorry reading for Argentina fans who saw their team out-spiked 44-23, and out-blocked 13-3. Anahi Florenca Tosi (7 points) and Julieta Constanza Lazcano (4 points) were the top scorers though no-one got close to double figures.
To see complete results, stats, and standings, visit our Volleyball Nations League 2018 / Female page.
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