The South Americans reacted after losing the first set and prevailed in Belgrade
Published 08:32, 28 Jun 2025
Opposite Germán Gómez scored 20 points for the Argentineans
Showing maturity and strength, Argentina overcame a slow start to find their best game and defeat Serbia in Belgrade on Saturday, denying the Europeans their first home victory in the Volleyball Nations League 2025.
Returning to the court one day after they lost to Iran, the South Americans secured a 3-1 (18-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-12) victory over the home team in the second and last match of the day in the Serbian capital.
Besides putting the Argentineans back into winning ways in the VNL 2025, the victory also kept them in contention for a spot in the Finals as they now rank ninth, with 11 points (four wins, three losses). Serbia, which lost all three home matches played so far this week and have one victory in seven encounters, continue at the bottom of the standings, in 18th place, with three points.
The Argentineans had a solid offensive performance against Serbia, which resulted in four of their hitters leaving the court with double digits in scoring – opposite Germán Gómez (20 points), outside hitters Luciano Vicentin (16) and Luciano Palonsky (13) and middle blocker Agustín Loser (15).
“I thought they played very well in the first set,” Loser said. “But we started playing better after that, especially on our offense. We were more intelligent with our serving and blocking and defense, too. We’re very happy with this victory because it was important for us.”
Serbia had opposite Drazen Luburić as their leading scorer with 18 points (16 kills, two aces), followed by outside hitter Veljko Mašulović, who registered 12, with ten kills and two blocks.
“It’s hard to explain,” outside Marko Ivović said. “I feel like it’s the third or fourth time in the VNL in which we stay playing well, but then we can’t keep it up and kind of give up when things start not going our way. It’s a tough loss and I want to believe this is all part of the process we are going through.”
The other match of the day held in Belgrade had Germany triumphing 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 26-24, 25-22) over Iran. The result made the teams switch positions in the VNL standings as the Europeans are now 12th with 12 points (three wins, four losses), while the Asians rank 13th with ten (also three wins, four losses).
Opposite Filip John led the Germans with a match-high 22 points (19 kills, two aces, one block). Outside hitters Erik Röhrs and Tobias Brand scored 15 points each.
Iran concentrated their offense on outside hitter Amirhossein Esfandiar, who produced 19 points (18 kills, one block), and opposite Bardia Saadat, who registered 17.
Sunday’s match schedule in Belgrade will feature three matches, with Iran and the Netherlands playing first, at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT), Cuba and Argentina following at 16:30 (14:30 GMT) and Germany and Serbia ending the day at 20:00 (18:00 GMT).
In Burgas, after securing back-to-back victories in their first two matches of the week, hosts Bulgaria went down to Türkiye, losing 3- 0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-21). With the three points earned with their second victory in the VNL 2025, the Turkish got to six (two wins, five losses) and appear in 16th place. The Bulgarians, who won four of their seven matches, have 11, ranking eighth.
Perhaps more concerning than the upset for the Bulgarians was seeing star setter Simeon Nikolov go down with an injury. He left the match during the second set after landing weirdly with what seemed to be a left ankle injury.
With 14 points each, outside hitters Efe Mandiraci and Mirza Lagumdzija carried the Turkish offense. Middle blocker Bedirhan Bülbül scored 13.
On the Bulgarian side, opposite Venislav Antov was the only one to get to double digits in scoring, registering 11 points, all in kills.
The other match of the day in the Bulgarian city saw Olympic champions France overcome Slovenia to produce a 3-0 (25-23, 27-25, 25-23) victory.
VNL 2025 – Match Schedule & Results
On Sunday, Slovenians and Japanese will be the first to get on the court, at 12:00 local time (9:00 GMT), followed by Turkish and French, at 15:30 (12:30), and Bulgarians and Ukrainians, at 19:00 (16:00 GMT).
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