In the women's Volleyball Nations League 2025 final round (Poland), Japan faced Brazil in the semi-finals on Saturday, July 26th and lost 2-3 (25-23, 21-25, 18-25, 25-19, 8-15).
As a result, Japan will play against Poland in the third place match on Sunday the 27th.
Participating members
Japan
Starting line-up: S Seki (3), OH Ishikawa (19), MB Miyabe (5), OP Wada (20), OH Sato (14), MB Shimamura (10), L Kojima/Fukudome
Substitutes: MB Araki (2), MB Yamada (1), S Shiode (0), OH Iwasawa (0), OH Kitamado (0)
Brazil
Starting line-up: S Roberta (0), OH Gabi (25), MB Diana (12), OP Rosamaria (9), OH Bergman (24), MB Julia (13), L Marsela
Substitutes: S. Makris (2), OP. Tainara (0)
Match Report
In the first set, Japan scored points mainly through spikes and service aces from OH Ishikawa, and also scored three blocks from MB Shimamura and OH Sato, giving Japan the lead 25-23.
In the second and third sets, Japan's attacks had difficulty getting through due to Brazil's blocks and defense, while Brazil scored points with spikes from OH Gabi and OH Bergman and quick plays and blocks from their middle blockers, winning the sets 21-25 and 18-25.
In the 4th set, Japan, with no other options, brought in MB Araki from the start. In this set, the serve worked well, including a service ace from OH Sato, and the block also took good touches to prevent Brazil's attack points. In addition, on the offensive side, OP Wada scored points, and Japan took the lead 25-19 and went into a full set.
In the fifth set, Japan's attacks were not successful in the face of Brazil's block and defense from the beginning, and Brazil took a large lead of 1-5. After that, Brazil continued to score points, mainly through OH Bergman. Japan's OH Ishikawa also scored a spike with high decisiveness, but the initial point difference could not be made up and Brazil won the set 8-15, and Japan lost 2-3.
Match stats▼
https://vnlw.volleystation.com/en/matches/2227596/
personal MVP
Mayu Ishikawa
Outside hitter
19 points (17 attacks, 1 serve, 1 block)
Attack Effectiveness Rate 23%
Serve receive success rate: 65%
Although he struggled at times in terms of attack, he led the team with 19 points, the second highest on the team. In particular, his dedicated defense stood out in this game, and he saved the team from pinch many times, such as picking up the ball with a one-handed receive at the last moment.
Gabi Guimaraes
Outside hitter
25 points (attack 24, block 1)
Attack Effectiveness Rate 33%
Serve receive success rate 50%
Following on from the qualifying round, Gavi tormented Japan with his performance on both offense and defense. Compared to that match, he made a few more mistakes in attack, but his performance more than made up for them. On the offensive side, he produced a lot of points as one of the two main players opposite OH Bergman, and on the defensive side, he brought stability to the team with his high receiving ability.
Toshiki's comment
Japan was sadly defeated in a full set.
We won the fourth set in great form and wanted to carry that momentum into the fifth set, but we weren't able to get any side outs against Brazil's strong defense in the early stages, and in the end we weren't able to close the gap in the early stages until the end.
However, considering that they were unable to do much in the qualifying round and lost 0-3, we can take this as a positive sign that the Japanese team has made great progress. Their serves and blocks have improved dramatically since that match.
However, the issue for the future will be how much the team can improve its spike scoring power against a team with a high block and good floor defense. Brazil's defense was a threat until the end.
Although they lost to Brazil, there is still a third place match to play off.
As the match will be against the host team Poland, it is expected that the venue will be filled with 12,000 fans, making it a completely away game.
Poland is of course a tall team, but they don't have the floor defense that Brazil has, and they have already won one game in the qualifying round, so it should be easy for them to play against them.
I hope they enjoy the game and seize victory without succumbing to the pressure from the Polish fans.
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Next race information
3rd Place Match vs Poland
July 27th (Sun) 23:00~
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Photo: FIVB
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