The German women's national team delivered one of the biggest surprises in the second tournament of the Volleyball Nations League in Ankara (Turkey), after inflicting Brazil's first defeat in this year's edition of the competition. The Germans won 3:2 (26:24, 28:26, 15:25, 19:25, 16:14) in the fifth five-set match of the day.
The success came under the watchful eye of legendary former "Sele
ção" setter Bruno Rezende, who watched the dramatic clash from the stands in the Turkish capital.
This was only the third victory for the DFB-Team in the VNL, but it holds significant value. The Germans temporarily climbed to 11th place in the tournament standings and made an important step towards improving their position in the world rankings.
Brazil remains in second place in the VNL temporary standings with 20 points and a balance of 7 wins and 1 loss. However, the South Americans lost 13.27 points for the world rankings, although they maintained their second place in it. Germany, for its part, gained the same amount and climbed two positions to No. 9 in the world.
The Bulgarian national team will face Germany in its last match of this year's VNL. The match is on July 12 during the third tournament of the competition in Belgrade.
Match statistics
| Stat | Germany | Brazil |
|---|---|---|
| Attack | 55 | 78 |
| Block | 14 | 10 |
| Aces | 3 | 4 |
| Points from opponent's errors | 32 | 22 |
| Total points | 104 | 114 |
The great paradox in the match is that Brazil finished with 10 more points and a significant superiority in attack (78 against 55), but failed to close out the match. Germany compensated with an excellent performance in blocking, as well as 32 points that came from opponent's errors. The high number of unforced errors by the Brazilians proved to be one of the decisive factors for the final outcome.
| Stat | Germany | Brazil |
|---|---|---|
| Digs | 96 | 92 |
| Receptions | 102 | 93 |
| Organized attacks | 155 | 160 |
The German women had a slight advantage in back-row play, recording more digs in defense and more successful receptions. This allowed them to remain competitive despite a significant deficit in successful attacks.
Timmer was the top scorer for the winners with 16 points, while Jatzko added 14. For Brazil, Ana Cristina and Helena scored 21 points each, but their efforts were not enough to maintain the team's perfect record.
After coming back from a 0-2 set deficit, Brazil managed to force the match into a tie-break, but in the decisive moments, Germany showed stronger nerves and closed out the match at 16:14, recording one of its most prestigious victories in recent years.
Photos:volleyballworld.com
