The USA women, who opened Volleyball Nations League play with a five-set victory over Serbia on Wednesday, are back in action Friday in Antalya, Türkiye when they play Italy.
Italy opened play Tuesday with a five-set, come-from-behind victory over Thailand, had Wednesday off, and on Thursday lost in four to Poland.
Also Thursday in VNL, in Nagoya, Japan, Germany swept Croatia, the Dominican Republic rallied to beat Bulgaria in five, and Brazil swept the Netherlands.
In Türkiye, Thailand swept Canada and Türkiye beat Serbia in four.
Before the USA plays Italy in Antalya, Thailand plays Poland and Korea plays Canada.
Earlier in Japan, Germany plays China, the DR plays the Netherlands and Croatia plays Japan.
GERMANY 3, CROATIA 0: Germany improved to 2-0 with a 25-18, 25-23, 25-23 win. Hanna Orthmann had a match-high 20 kills and three of her team’s 10 aces. Camila Weitzel had nin kills, three blocks and an ace.
Croatia (0-2) got 16 kills from Andrea Mihaljevic, who had a block and an ace. Her teammates combined for 27 kills.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 3, BULGARIA 2: The DR won a roller-coaster of a match 22-25, 25-16, 16-25, 25-14, 15-11 as Brayelin Martinez had 23 kills, 14 digs and two blocks. Gaila Gonzalez added 16 kills, a block, 11 digs and two aces, and Jineiry Martinez had 15 kills and a block. Bulgaria’s Elena Becheva had 16 kills and a block. Both teams are 1-1.
BRAZIL 3, NETHERLANDS 0: Ana Cristina de Souza had 20 kills, two blocks and an ace in the 25-23, 25-23, 25-21 victory for Brazil (1-1). Julia Bergmann had 10 kills, two blocks and an ace and Kisy Nascimento had 10 kills and an ace. Elles Dambrink led the Netherlands (0-2) with nine kills and two blocks.
THAILAND 3, CANADA 0: Thailand is 2-0 after its 25-17, 26-24, 25-21 win as Wipawee Srithong had 16 kills, a block and an ace and Chatchu-On Moksri had 14 kills, 16 digs, two blocks and an ace.
Canada (0-2) got the bulk of its kills from former NCAA players eight by Alexa Gray (BYU), eight by Andrea Mitrovic (Buffalo), six by Layne Van Buskirk (Pitt). and five by Emily Maglio (Hawai’i).
Thailand was outblocked 11-6 but had a 6-1 service aces advantage.
POLAND 3, ITALY 1: Italy struggled in its opening five-set win over…
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