Poland outlast Brazil to defend their bronze
Italy are the women’s Volleyball Nations League 2024 champions! Powered by usual suspect Paola Egonu in Sunday’s final in Bangkok, they defeated Japan in four sets and claimed the VNL trophy for the second time, after 2022, when they triumphed at the Finals in Ankara. Japan settled for silver, a historic success for the Asian team, whose best previous result in the competition was a fourth place in 2021. Poland managed to defend their 2023 bronze by outlasting Brazil in a dramatic five-set battle for the third place.
- Watch Volleyball Nations League 2024 live on VBTV
In front of over six thousand spectators in Thailand’s capital, Italy outspiked and outblocked Japan to celebrate a 3-1 (25-17, 25-17, 21-25, 25-20) victory. And their star opposite Paola Egonu excelled at both of those elements. She raised four of her team’s 12 kill blocks (against only two from Japan) and hammered 23 of Italy’s 66 successful swings in attack (against 52 from Japan) to top the match charts with 27 points to her name.
Outside hitters Myriam Sylla and Alice Degradi chipped in another 15 and 12 points, respectively, towards the victory, while a monster block by Sarah Fahr delivered the match winner in the fourth set.
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With the help of two aces from Arisa Inoue, Japan fought back to prevail in the third set, but that was as much as they could take away from their powerful opponent. Inoe finished with 11 points, while outside hitter and captain Sarina Koga spearheaded the team with 17 points, all in offence.
“How can I feel! I am happy, of course, because we are an amazing group and you can see it in how we play on the court. I hope this is just the beginning,” Italy’s middle blocker and captain Anna Danesi told VBTV after the final. “This tournament was really hard, we travelled a lot, but we stayed focused and we won. Again, it’s an amazing team! Congratulations to Japan! They deserved to be in this final.”
“I think we grew a lot as a team throughout this VNL and we have to be proud of that. Winning our first VNL medal is something we have to be proud of, but there are some things we have to work on too,” Japan’s middle Airi Miyabe commented.
Earlier on Sunday, Poland celebrated a 3-2 (25-21, 26-28, 25-21, 19-25, 15-9) victory over Brazil in the third place match and achieved their second podium in the…
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