The American megacity of Arlington is ready for the alternate day of the Volleyball Nations League 2023 Tests on Thursday, when the last two women’s quarterfinal matches will be played at the College Park Center.
The alternate day of competition in Texas will start beforehand, with Brazil and China battling at 1030 original time( 1530 UTC) and will continue with the hassle between Türkiye and Italy at 1400 original time( 1900 UTC).
The winners of the match between Brazilians and Chinese will play Poland or Germany, who face each other on Wednesday, while Turkish or Italians will meet the platoon that advances from the dogfight involving hosts USA and Japan, also on Wednesday. The semifinals will be held on Saturday, with the order matches ending the event on Sunday.
After taking tableware in the last three editions of the VNL, Brazil will try to push for gold in 2023 after finishing fourth in the primary Phase with eight palms.
Ranked third in the FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Rankings, the South Americans had star outside megahit Gabriela ‘ Gabi ’ Guimarães available in the last week of the primary Phase and got indeed stronger in the middle, with two- time Olympic champion middle blocker Thaisa Menezes returning to the public platoon after five times to join Ana Carolina ‘ Carol ’ da Silva in the position.
“ We ’ve been studying China for a while, ” head trainer José ‘ Zé Roberto ’ Guimarães reflected. “ They’re veritably strong in the middle, so serving well and giving our blockers a better chance to make plays would be crucial for us. ”
China were fifth in the primary Phase with the same eight triumphs and 24 points as Brazil, but ranked below the South Americans because of their slightly lower set rate. The brigades met in their first match in the primary Phase, back in May, and the Asians won in the tie- swell, securing their third palm in the last five hassles between the brigades.
Outside megahit Li Yingying has been veritably strong offensively for the Chinese and her connection with setter Diao Linyu looks sharper than ever.
The third-stylish platoon in the primary Phase with nine palms in 12 matches, Türkiye will try to ameliorate from the tableware order they won in 2018 and the citation they took in 2021.
The Europeans have a new trainer in Daniele Santarelli, who left Serbia after leading them to the world title last time, and ate an outstanding new obnoxious armament in Cuban- born contrary Melissa Vargas, who joins a strong core formed by middle blockers Eda Erdem and Zehra Gunes and contrary Ebrar Karakurt.
Defending titleholders Italy saved their main stars during the primary Phase and still managed to make it to the Tests and have a chance to defend their title by winning eight of their 12 matches and finishing sixth.
“ In the Tests, every match will be delicate, ” said outside megahit Francesa Villani. “ We ’re veritably confident and positive because of what we did in the primary Phase and I suppose it’s going to be a good match against Türkiye. We’ve grown a lot as a platoon and entering this match, we need to concentrate on what happens on our side of the net. ”
The 12 matches of the primary Phase proved to be of great value for some youthful players similar as contrary Sylvia Nwakalor and outside megahit Loveth Omoruyi to earn some important- required playing time and they will now be feasible options for the European titleholders in the Tests alongside stagers similar as captain Miryam Sylla and middle blocker Anna Danesi.
The dogfight between Turkish and Italians during the primary Phase happed on the last day of the opening week, in Antalya, and Türkiye took advantage of the support of the home crowd to prevail in three sets – they won three of the last five matches between the brigades.