Bulgaria upset Poland in five-set thriller and live to fight for another day

Bulgaria will enter the last day of the Volleyball Nations League 2025 Preliminary Phase still looking for a spot in the Finals after the Europeans produced a massive victory over FIVB World Ranking leaders Poland on Saturday in front of a sold-out Ergo Arena in Gdańsk.

The Bulgarians came out on top in match that had many different scenarios after star setter Simeon Nikolov came off the bench and fired the game-winning ace that cemented their 3-2 (17-25, 25-22, 25-23, 27-29, 15-11) victory, their first against their rivals since 2017 – Poland had won the last ten encounters.

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The victory and the two points that came with it kept Bulgaria alive in the race for a spot in the VNL Finals. They now have six wins and 17 points in the VNL standings, still appearing outside the qualification zone in ninth place, but are in position to catch sixth-placed Cuba (six wins, 19 points) and seventh-placed Ukraine (six wins, 18 points) if they win their final match against Iran on Sunday.

The Nikolov brothers were instrumental in the Bulgarian victory as outside hitter Aleksandar led the team with 24 points (19 kills, three blocks, two aces) and setter Simeon fired the game-winning ace.

“I think that the only thing we can do when we come out to play is to give it our all,” Simeon said. “Sometimes you play well and the other team doesn’t play so well, and then you take advantage of it. We did it today, and we could have won the fourth set, but missed it. It felt really nice getting that last ace, especially after feeling down at the beginning of the fifth set. I’m happy we got the win and that I was able to finish it.”

Outside hitter Martin Atanasov and opposite Venislav Antov also had solid displays, each contributing 13 points in the Bulgarian victory.

Poland, which are in a good position to qualify, appearing in third place with seven wins and 21 points, got 15 points from middle blocker Mateusz Poręba, 12 from outside hitter Bartosz Bednorz, 11 from opposite Bartlomiej Bołądź and ten from outside hitter Wilfredo Leon.

Olympic champions France and Iran will face each other at 20:30 local time (18:30 GMT) in Gdańsk in the second and last match of the day.

Serbia win again and avoid relegation

In Ljubljana, the first match of the day sealed Serbia’s permanence in the VNL in 2026 as the Europeans triumphed for a second-straight day, beating Canada 3-1 (15-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-22) and are now free from the threat of going down.

With their third victory in the tournament, the Serbians got to nine points and moved up to 15^th place. With that, 18^th-placed the Netherlands, which have one victory and five points, will not compete in the VNL in 2026.

Star opposite Drazen Luburić, who had led the team in a key victory over Ukraine on Friday, delivered a 20-point performance for a second-straight day, registering 18 kills and two aces against the Canadians. Captain Marko Ivovič also came up big for the Serbians, contributing 14 points, all in kills.

“It’s a great feeling to get to win two in a row in the VNL for the first time,” setter Nikola Jovović reacted. “We played against a very good team that showed some great volleyball in the VNL. It took us a lot of effort to win today. Keeping our spot in the VNL was the main thing for us this week and it’s good to know that we accomplished it. There’s always ups and downs in volleyball, but I think that our victory against Ukraine got us in good spirits for today.”

Canada were led by outside hitters Brodie Hofer, who had 15 points (14 kills, one block), and Isaac Heslinga, who got 14, with 12 kills and two blocks.

Volleyball Nations League 2025: full schedule and results

Hosts Slovenia and world champions Italy will meet in the second match of the day at the Arena Stožice on Saturday, which is scheduled to start at 20:30 local time (18:30 GMT).

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