Ana Carolina Da Silva (F) of Brazil reacts during the match between Brazil and Poland at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League Finals Women in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu province, July 4, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Bo)
NANJING, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Brazil rallied back twice to beat Poland in full sets 22-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-19 and 15-10 in the FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League (VNL) finals here on Thursday afternoon.
Poland who lost 3-1 to the United States on Wednesday, was thus stopped from the last four in the six-team finals which is being played in two groups in a single round robin format.
During the match which lasted for two hours and 16 minutes, Ana Beatriz Correa led Brazil with 19 points, while teammates Gabriela Braga Guimaraes added 15, Natalia Pereira and Ana Paula Borgo Bedani Guedes combined for 25.
Opposite spiker Malwina Smarzek scored the match-high 31 points for Poland, Natalia Medrzyk and Agnieszka Kakolewska also added 14 and 11 respectively, but another opposite spiker Magdalena Stysiak only contributed eight points.
Poland led 8-4 into the match but was tied at 14-all. After Brazil led 18-17 for the first time, Poland fought back to 19-all, led again 21-19 and took the first set 25-22 as Brazil made five errors against three during the set where neither side scored in serves.
After Poland fought from 3-6 down to lead 8-6 at the first technical timeout, Brazil who had a 15-4 win-loss record against Poland, gradually controlled the tempo and led 21-19 with a solid block from Araujo Natalia to force Poland calling for a timeout. Natalia then served for the first point of the match to help Brazil lead 23-20 before taking the second set 25-21 to level the scoreboard.
Poland rallied back from 4-8 down to overtake the lead 11-10, but found themselves lagging behind again at 17-21 before scoring four straight points to tie at 21-all and took the third set 25-22 for an overall 2-1 lead.
Then fatigue took its toll as Brazil led 5-1 before Poland called for a timeout. From 8-5, Brazil headed to 14-9 with an outside hit from Poland and led 16-11 at the second technical timeout en route to winning the fourth set 25-19.
Mara Ferreira Leao had a pair of serve aces to help Brazil lead 5-0 into the decisive fifth set. After Stysiak also served two aces to help Poland narrow the gap to two points at 7-5, Brazil rushed ahead to 10-6 and sealed the match 15-10 without giving Poland any more chances.
