VNL 2023 Pool 4: Croatia First Win, Serbia Comeback

On June 16th, in Pool 4 of VNL’s second week, Germany defeated Japan in a thrilling five-set match (25-23, 14-25, 25-22, 20-25, 15-8), giving Germany their 5th victory in the tournament after playing 6 matches. Hannah Orthmann was the top scorer of the match, contributing 24 points for the winning team, alongside the Japanese outside hitter who also scored 24 points.

In the second match of the day in Brasilia, Croatia and South Korea faced off as the only two teams in the tournament yet to win a match. Croatia made history by winning their first-ever Volleyball Nations League match in a convincing manner, defeating South Korea 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-14). Captain Martina Šamadan led the Croatian team to victory, scoring 18 points and securing their much-awaited first win.

The last match of the day saw an impressive comeback by team Serbia, who overcame Thailand after being down two sets. Despite losing the first two sets 24-26 and 22-25, Serbia fought back in the next two sets, winning 25-17 and 25-12. In the final set of the match, Thailand was leading 11-14, but they failed to convert the three match points and Serbia scored five points in a row to secure their second win in seven matches.

(Featured image source: Volleyball World)

(Written by Boris CHUNG Bok Man)