Mighty Brazil and Italy are set to lock horns in a titanic semifinal duel at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Thailand tomorrow.
The South Americans prevailed in a titanic duel against a fighting and spirited France in the quarterfinal in Bangkok.
Reigning European champions Türkiye dropped their first set in their quarter-final match, but powered through a brave United States team to advance to the tournament’s semifinals for the first time in history.
The first two sets of the game between Brazil and France offered plenty of drama for the fans and were both pushed to overtime before being resolved. In set one, France wiped out a four-point Brazilian lead to level the score before saving two opponent set points and conceding on the third one.
In set two, it was the Europeans that had a four-point advantage. The South Americans came back and were the first to reach set point with a two-point lead. France scored three in a row to gain the initiative, but then failed to convert five opportunities to take the set as it went deeper and deeper into overtime.
On the fifth set point of theirs, Brazil finally managed to put an end to it all at 33-31. The third set was also very competitive through 11-11, after which the South Americans managed to break away and never looked back until outside hitter Julia Bergmann fired the match winner to fix the final 3-0 (27-25, 33-31, 25-19) victory.
With setter Roberta Ratzke skillfully distributing the Brazilian attacks, all five of her spikers reached the double digits in scoring. Bergmann led the way with 17 points, all in swings. Outside and captain Gabriela Guimaraes (Gabi) added 13, including an ace, while opposite Rosamaria Montibeller chipped in with 12 spike kills at a 63% success rate in attack. Middle blockers Diana Alecrim (80% success rate in attack, 1 ace) and 22-year-old Julia Kudiess (64% success) finished with 10 points each, but that included all of the team’s eight kill blocks as they authored five and three of those, respectively.
“First of all, congratulations to France! They are doing an amazing job. In such a little time they became such an amazing team. They fight all the time and you can see the joy, when they play,” Bergmann told VBTV. “But I am so happy we won. We deserve this. We fought for every ball. Compared to the beginning of the VNL, we got so much better. It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come, how far we can still go, so I’m very, very proud of my team.”
Charismatic outside and captain Helena Cazaute once again led her team in battle in an impressive fashion. She delivered a match-high 20 points and is currently 10 points clear on top of the World Championship’s best scorers ranking. Her tally featured one ace and one kill block. Opposite Iman Ndiaye added another 15 points, all in spikes, while outside Amelie Rotar put away 10 points, including a block.
“It is definitely tough to lose, when you look at how we played at this tournament. It feels really bad now, but I think we can be proud of what we did at this World Championship,” Ndiaye commented. “Seeing how far this group has come, I am happy that we ended up where we are now. Obviously, Brazil is a very strong team and it was a game where we wanted to leave everything on the court.”
Turkiye came out on top in the fourth and last quarterfinal match of the event, which took place at the Huamark Indoor Stadium, in Bangkok, taking the Americans down with a 3-1 (25-14, 22-25, 25-14, 25-23) victory to continue their chase for their first World Championship medal.
In the semifinals, the Turkish will face Asian giants Japan, who eliminated the Netherlands in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Star outside hitter Ebrar Karakurt delivered her best performance at the World Championship so far against the Americans, leading the Turkish side with 23 points (20 kills, three blocks). Opposite Melissa Vargas was also instrumental, tallying 21 points (18 kills, three aces), while team captain and middle blocker Eda Erdem added another 13, with a match-high seven blocks and six kills.
“It’s a historic day for us, it’s the first time our national team makes it to the Final Four of a World Championship,” Karakurt remarked. “We came into this match strongly believing we could win it. Each of my teammates did their best, and I’m very proud of them. I tried to help the team and am proud of what I was able to do today. But it’s not over yet. We have two more matches to play, and we want to win gold here.”
Sarah Franklin was the most productive American player on the court with 12 points (ten kills, one block, one ace), one more than fellow outside hitter Avery Skinner, middle blocker Dana Rettke and opposite Stephanie Samedy.
“I’m very proud of the team,” Rettke, a Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalist, reacted. “When you look at where we were at the beginning of the season and where we are now, there’s been so much growth. We worked very hard over the summer to be in the best possible shape here, and we did a great job. It’s the first year in the quad and we have a new coaching staff and new players, so this is a great result.”
Türkiye’s strong game at the net paved the way for their victory as the Europeans largely outscored the Americans in both kills (58 to 41) and blocks (19 to 11). The USA had the most aces (six to three) and there was a similar number of errors made by both sides (Türkiye gave up 18 points and the United States, 17).
