The top-ranked Belgian side will meet Puerto Rico in the knockout semifinal round.
No Britt Herbots and Silke Van Avermaet, no problem for Belgium.
The Yellow Tigers, missing superstar hitters in Herbots and Van Avermaet, barged into the semifinal round of the 2024 FIVB Women’s Volleyball Challenger Cup. They got a 25-16, 25-23, 25-22 sweep over Sweden on Thursday, July 4, to cap off the opening day of the four-day tournament.
Belgium thus became the second team to advance into the Final Four after Puerto Rico, who swept past Kenya earlier in the curtain raiser.
Manon Stragier stamped her class with style with a team-high 16 points, including 12 attacks, three blocks, and an ace. Pauline Martin and middle blocker Britt Franse both added 11 markers for the Belgians.
Meanwhile, Anna Haak took over the scoring cudgels for the Swedes with 15 points, as team captain Alexandra Lazic, who had a bad fall midway through the second set, chipped in 12.
Sweden kept close against Belgium in the final set, but the world no. 13 squad proved to be a cut above rest in the clutch in this all-European encounter to solidify their position as the top-ranked team in the tournament with a sweeping win.
Earlier, Sweden bounced back after an opening-set stumble and zoomed in to a 10-6 advantage led by team captain Alexandra Lazic, who bucked off a bad fall midway through the second set.
The Belgians finally got their bearings going in the second set and tied the game at 19-all after a Sweden attacking error.
From that point on, the two squads went neck-and-neck before a Stragier offspeed attack, followed by a Lien Van Geertruyden ace sealed the comeback for Belgium
Belgium rode a 5-0 blitz to build a 16-10 cushion in the opening set after a back-and-forth start.
They pulled away against Sweden late courtesy of a riveting 6-0 closing run from a 19-16 lead as Anna Koulberg’s running hit closed things out for an early 1-0 set lead.