In the third week of the Women's Volleyball Nations League 2025 Preliminary Round (Chiba) on Sunday 13 July, Japan faced Brazil and lost 0-3 (17-25, 18-25, 20-25).
Starting Lineup
Japan
Starting lineup: S Seki (1), OH Ishikawa (12), MB Miyabe (4), OP Wada (6), OH Sato (2), MB Shimamura (8), L Iwazawa
Substitutes: L Kojima, MB Yamada (3), S Nakagawa, OH Fukazawa, OH Kitamado (5), OP Akimoto (3)
Brazil
OH Gabi (11), MB Diana (8), OP Rosamaria (10), OH Bergman (15), MB Julia (9), S Roberta (5), L Marcela
Match Report
In the first set, Japan's attacks were unable to go as planned against Brazil's solid defense, but on the other hand, Brazil scored points with a variety of attacks from OH Gabi, OP Rosamaria, MB Julia and a service ace from S Roberta, and took the lead with ease, 17-25.
In the second set, thanks to the efforts of middle blockers MB Shimamura and MB Miyabe, Japan fought on an even footing in the early stages, but allowed Brazil to score consecutive points from S Roberta's serve, and from there Japan was unable to stop Brazil's spikes, led by OH Bergman, and lost the set 18-25.
In the third set, Japan replaced three starters and allowed Brazil to score consecutive points in the early stages due to their serves, but with spikes and service aces from OH Ishikawa, they closed the gap to one point in the middle stages. However, they were unable to contain Brazil's powerful attacks, led by OH Bergman and OP Rosamaria, until the end, and Japan lost this set 20-25 and lost to Brazil 0-3.
Match stats▼
https://vnlw.volleystation.com/en/matches/2227590/
personal MVP
Mayu Ishikawa
Outside hitter
12 points (11 attack, 1 serve), attack efficiency rate 231 TP 3T
She struggled in the second set with her attacks not coming in, but in the third set she stepped up her game and showed her determination against Brazil with her attacks and serves. She also showed superb play in the third set, picking up Gabi's spikes in succession despite being bombarded by Brazil's serves from the middle of the match, while minimizing the loss of serve reception points. I hope she will use this disappointment as a springboard to do her best again in the final round.
Gabi Guimaraes
Outside hitter
11 points (attack 11), attack efficiency 451 TP 3T
One of the reasons for Brazil's victory in this match was that they were winning by picking up the ball against Japan, and the center of their defense was libero Marcela and Gabi. They showed stable serve reception against Japan's powerful serves, and also successfully received 11 spikes, almost the same number as Marcela, to prevent Japan's attacks. Of course, they also played an active role on the offensive side, scoring 11 points, the second highest on the team, with their spirited spikes.
However, it goes without saying that this result was only possible thanks to the efforts of each player, such as OH Bergman in the spike, S Roberta in the serve, and MB Diana in the block.
Toshiki's comment
Japan suffered their first straight loss in the final match of the qualifying round.
The biggest reason for their loss was that they were unable to break down their opponents with their serves, which had been their strong point up until that point, and that their opponents were picking up too many of their spikes on the return kicks.
All three of the team's key players, Ishikawa, Sato, and Wada, who had led the team up to this point, had difficulty scoring a spike.
However, I think that the fact that they were able to hold them back this far in the qualifying rounds should be seen as a positive thing, as it means that they have found a big problem before the final. If they had done the same thing for the first time in the quarterfinals of the final, I think there would have been nothing we could do, but now there are still measures we can take.
I am grateful to Brazil for coming to Japan with the intention of beating them.
I'm sure this team can grow even more from here.
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Final rankings in the qualifying round
1 Italy 12 wins, 0 losses, 33 points, 36/7 sets ★
2 Brazil 11 wins, 1 loss, 31 points, 33/11 sets ★
3 Japan 9 wins, 3 losses, 27 points, 30/12 sets ★
4 Poland 9 wins, 3 losses, 27 points, 31/15 sets ★
5 China 9 wins, 3 losses, 24 points, 30/20 sets ★
6 Türkiye 8 wins, 4 losses, 23 points, 28/17 sets ★
7 Germany 7 wins, 5 losses, 23 points, 29/22 sets ★
8 USA 7 wins, 5 losses, 20 points, 26/23 sets ★
9 France 5 wins, 7 losses, 17 points, 23/25 sets
10 Netherlands 5 wins, 7 losses, 15 points, 19/27 set
11 Czech Republic 5 wins, 7 losses, 14 points, 21/26 sets
12 Dominican Republic 5 wins, 7 losses, 13 points, 20/27 sets
13 Bulgaria 4 wins, 8 losses, 11 points, 19/31 set
14 Belgium 4 wins, 8 losses, 11 points, 15/29 set
15 Serbia 3 wins, 9 losses, 14 points, 21/28 sets
16 Canada 3 wins, 9 losses, 10 points, 19/33 sets
17 Thailand 1 win 11 losses 6 points 11/34 sets
18 South Korea 1 win, 11 losses, 5 points, 11/35 sets (relegated)
★…Final Round advancement confirmed
Next race information
Quarterfinals vs Türkiye
July 24th (Thu) 23:30~ or 27:00~
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Related links
Photo: FIVB
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