Aleks Nikolov tops two of seven individual stat charts in VNL

22-year-old Bulgarian outside hitter Aleksandar Nikolov emerged both as the best scorer and the best attacker of the Preliminary Phase of the men’s Volleyball Nations League 2026. Canada’s Jackson Howe topped the best blockers chart, Ukraine’s Dmytro Yanchuk and Japan’s Ran Takahashi jointly ruled as the best servers, France’s Antoine Brizard was ranked the best setter, his compatriot Mathis Henno as the best receiver, while Argentina’s Franco Massimino stood out as the best digger of the first stage of the annual competition.

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Best scorer: Aleksandar Nikolov (BUL)

Aleksandar Nikolov was instrumental for Bulgaria, scoring away in almost every game, regardless of whether his team was winning or losing. He piled up as many as 278 points, the second most a male player has scored within a single-season Preliminary Phase, after Netherlands’ Nimir Abdel-Aziz, who had 284 in 2024. Aleks Nikolov’s tally included 20 aces and 11 kill blocks, as he emerged 10 points clear on top of the best scorers ranking, with main contender – Belgian opposite Ferre Reggers – accumulating 268. Nikolov’s best single-game performance of the season – 32 points – came in the four-set win over the United States in Chicago on Saturday.

Best attacker: Aleksandar Nikolov (BUL)

Just one successful swing separated Nikolov from Reggers in the best attackers ranking of the Preliminary Phase, with the Bulgarian topping the chart with a total of 247, registering a 54% success rate in offense. No other player has ever scored more spike kills in one men’s VNL Preliminary Phase.

Best blocker: Jackson Howe (CAN)

Despite Canada’s shaky results that placed them second from the bottom in the final Preliminary Phase standings, one of their players – 28-year-old middle blocker Jackson Howe – had a remarkable season in net defense. He raised a total of 45 kill blocks, the second highest ever, after Argentina’s Agustin Loser mounted 51 in the 2023 Preliminary Phase. In four of Canada’s matches, Howe’s blocking tally reached five stuffs.

Best servers: Dmytro Yanchuk (UKR) and Ran Takahashi (JPN)

Two outside hitters – 27-year-old Dmytro Yanchuk of Ukraine and 24-year-old Ran Takahashi of Japan – led the way in serving with 21 aces each, one clear of third-ranked Aleks Nikolov.

Yanchuk also registered an impressive serving success rate of 13.38% in Ukraine’s historic campaign, which led them to the VNL Finals for the first time. He delivered four aces in each of the matches against Japan and China.

Ran’s excellent overall performance, not only in serving, was instrumental to Japan’s victorious run through the Preliminary Phase, which made them the first team ever to win all 12 of their matches in the men’s VNL Preliminary Phase. Ran’s best single-game serving result of the season were the four aces he fired against Argentina.

Best digger: Franco Massimino (ARG)

At 38 years of age, Argentina’s libero Franco Massimino showed no signs of slowing down. With 112 excellent digs under his belt, he emerged as by far the best defender of the Preliminary Phase, 15 digs clear of the second best – Turkiye’s Berkay Bayraktar. The highest number of excellent digs Massimino achieved in one match was 16, against Serbia.

Best receiver: Mathis Henno (FRA)

21-year-old French outside hitter Mathis Henno was by far the best receiver of the Preliminary Phase. He registered as many as 93 successful serve receptions, 19 more than second-ranked Bayraktar of Turkiye. Henno achieved his season-high of 13 successful serve receptions in a single game twice – against Cuba and against Brazil.

Best setter: Antoine Brizard (FRA)

The position of the setter is arguably the most important one in volleyball, as well as the most difficult one to measure statistically. However, there is hardly any doubt that France’s 32-year-old playmaker Antoine Brizard is among the best setters in the world. He proved it once again in the VNL by topping the best setters ranking with a total of 396 successful sets, six clear of another setting wizard, Brazil’s Fernando Kreling (Cachopa). Brizard mastered as many as 53 successful sets in France’s match against Iran.

VNL 2026 schedule and results
VNL 2026 ticket information

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