VNL 2025

Thrilling VNL ending for Argentina and Turkiye

The South Americans take dramatic win after a video challenge in the overtime of the tie-breaker

Published 05:20, 20 Jul 2025

Türkiye (TUR) vs. Argentina (ARG) men - Pool 9 - Preliminary Phase #52239443

Argentina’s setter Matias Sanchez Pages in action

Argentina and Turkiye engaged in a thrilling five-set battle to end their men’s Volleyball Nations League 2025 campaigns in Chiba, Japan on Sunday. The South Americans squeezed out the victory after a video challenge in the overtime of the tie-breaker, a referee decision the Turkish side argued against for a long time on the court before the final whistle was blown. Argentina finished on a 6-6 win-loss record and 16 points, standing 11^th in the current VNL standings before the remaining matches on the last competition day of the Preliminary Phase. Turkiye are 15^th on 3-9 and 10.

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The match clocks were stopped at 3-2 (18-25, 25-21, 25-19, 17-25, 17-15) Argentina’s way. In the last rally of the game, a two-handed overpass kill by Turkish middle blocker Marko Matic, initially called in favor of Turkiye, was successfully challenged by Argentina for a reaching beyond the net fault and that ended the match in a dramatic way.

Opposite Pablo Kukartsev contributed a match-high 29 points towards Argentina’s victory. He authored three of his team’s eight aces in the game and put up two of their seven kill blocks. Outside hitters Luciano Vicentin and Luciano Palonsky also reached the double digits with 16 and 12 points, respectively.

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“Today we had a good game. I am happy, because I played, and I am happy for the win,” Vicentin told VBTV. “It has been a difficult campaign, but volleyball is the thing I love the most, so I am happy here, I am happy on the court. Sometimes it’s not easy… Tonight we go back to Buenos Aires and we will start preparations for the World Championship.”

Opposite Adis Lagumdzija was Turkiye’s most prolific scorer of the match with 23 points. His younger brother Mirza added another 13. The team’s other outside hitter, Efe Mandiraci, impressed with four of Turkiye’s seven aces to finish with 20 points, while middle Bedirhan Bulbul registered a remarkable 100% success rate in attack and raised three of the team’s 11 kill blocks to sign off with a 12-point tally.

Türkiye vs. Argentina - Highlights | Men's VNL 2025

Next in Chiba, Finals-bound BRA will take on Germany, who are still in the running for a quarterfinal spot. The game serves off shortly, at 14:30 local time (05:30 UTC).