The Brazilian national team achieved its seventh victory in the Women's Volleyball Nations League after defeating China 3:1 (26:24, 25:18, 19:25, 25:15) in a second-week match of the tournament played in Ankara (Turkey).
With this success, "Seleção" gathered 19 points and took sole lead in the temporary standings, while the Chinese team remains in sixth position with 13 points. There is no change in the world rankings, where China remains in 7th place and Brazil is 2nd.
The match started extremely contested, with the Brazilians dramatically winning the first set 26:24. After that, the South Americans asserted their superiority and took the second set 25:18. China managed to get back into the match after a strong third set and a 25:19 victory, but in the fourth set, Brazil completely dominated and closed out the match at 25:15.

The top scorer for the winners was Bergman with 20 points, while Rosamaria added 17 more. For China, Tan was outstanding with 15 points and Zhuang with 12.

Brazil built its success mainly through its superior blocking, where they scored an impressive 16 points against only 6 for China. The South Americans also had an advantage in attack (55:47), which compensated for the greater number of own errors by the Chinese team, which brought 26 points to the opponent.

The statistics show that China was more stable in defensive play and reception, but this did not translate into sufficiently effective attack execution. Both teams finished with an equal number of organized attacks, but the higher success rate of the Brazilians in attack, and especially in blocking, proved decisive.

After this success, Brazil solidified their excellent form and climbed to the top of the VNL temporary standings. China remains among the contenders for participation in the final tournament, but the defeat showed that the team still struggles against the strongest opponents in the tournament.

photo:volleyballworld.com