The third place match of the 2025 Women's Volleyball World Championship (World Volleyball) will be held on Sunday, September 7th, with Japan facing off against Brazil.
Japan also faced them in this year's Nations League semi-finals and lost in a full set.
Japan started with outside hitters Ishikawa Mayu, Sato Yoshino, and Wada Yukiko, middle blockers Shimamura Haruyo and Miyabe Airi, setter Seki, libero Kojima, and Fukudome.
In both the first and second sets, Japan was unable to attack well against Brazil's blocking, while Brazil, led by their ace Gabi, scored points with great determination. In the second set, setter Nakagawa Tsukasa scored four consecutive points, but apart from that, Brazil dominated the game from start to finish, and Japan easily lost both sets, 12-25 and 17-25.
With no other options left, Japan started the third set with setter Nakagawa and middle blocker Yamada Nichika. Nakagawa's serve opened the scoring with five consecutive points. Japan continued to defend Brazil's attacks well, scoring points primarily through attacks from Sato and Ishikawa, and maintained a 20-14 lead. Finally, Sato scored a back-row attack to take the set 25-19.
In the fourth set, Japan made a series of mistakes, and Brazil scored five consecutive points from the start. However, attacks from Sato and Ishikawa put Japan back in front at 14-13, and then a service ace from Sato extended the lead to 22-19. From there, successful attacks and challenges from Gabi brought Brazil to deuce at 24-24. Brazil then had a match point at 25-26, but Sato finally scored an attack from the left to give Japan a 29-27 victory in the fourth set.
In the fifth set, Brazil took a 2-5 lead early on with blocks. However, Japan then turned the game around with attacks and blocks from Sato, followed by blocks from Yamada, to take a 10-9 lead. Sato's attack put Japan on match point at 14-13, but Brazil refused to give up and the game went to deuce. However, Gabi countered with an attack to put Brazil on match point at 16-17, and finally, Ishikawa's attack was caught by a Brazilian block, giving Brazil the win at 16-18.
As a result, Japan lost to Brazil 2-3.
Japan - Brazil
2-3 (12-25, 17-25, 25-19, 29-27, 16-18)
Japan
Starting lineup: S Seki (0), OH Ishikawa (23), MB Miyabe (0), OH Wada (13), OH Sato (34), MB Shimamura (11), L Kojima/Fukudome
Substitutes: MB Araki (0), MB Yamada (3), OH Iwasawa (0), S Nakagawa (1), OH Kitamado (0), OH Akimoto (1)
Brazil
Starting lineup: MB Julia (9), S Roberta (4), OH Gabi (35), MB Diana (9), OP Rosamaria (11), OH Bergman (13), L Marcela
Substitutes: S. Makris (0), OH Helena (0), OP Kizzy (6)
Match stats▼
https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/women-world-championship/schedule/22453/#teamstats
Japan finished the tournament in fourth place.
The Japanese men's volleyball team's first match at the World Volleyball Championship will be against Turkey on Saturday, September 13th at 3:00 PM.
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Photo: Volleyball World
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