VideoDutch volleyball players in the Nations League were not able to achieve their first victory. In Rimini, the Dutch led 2-0 in groups against Japan. It eventually became 22-25 23-25 25-22 25-17 15-8 for the Japanese.
National coach Roberto Piazza chose a starting setup with Frick de Weiger (setter), Nimr Abdulaziz (Qatari), Tess ter Horst and Robert Andringa (runner/runner), Fabian Black and Tuan Feltenberg (centre) and Joost Drunkers (Libro player). Thanks in part to Black’s strong performance, who missed almost nothing in attack, the Orange team won the first set after trailing 10-14.
In the second group, Japan advanced 20-21. Thanks to the convincing scores from Plak and the superb ball from Abdulaziz, Piazza still won the group. In the third set, the Netherlands looked set to win 3-0 with a 7-3 score. However, Japan came back strong, in part because star player Abdulaziz appeared to be in pain after an unfortunate touchdown and increasingly stopped by the Japanese.
on fire
Since the fourth set, things have not gone well on the Dutch side. National coach Piazza brought in many substitutes, but they could no longer stop the booming Japan.
This was the second match in the group stage for the Orangemen. On Friday, the Netherlands lost 3-1 to Russia, the winner of the last two editions. Japan beat Iran 3-0 in the first match against Orange on Sunday.
The sixteen best countries in the world participate in the Nations League. Orange was allowed to take China’s place in the FIVB’s annual continental competition, which was still called the World League until 2018. The Chinese withdrew.
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