Canada sink the Netherlands in the battle against relegation

The Netherlands’ hopes of continuing in the Volleyball Nations League for the 2026 season suffered a strong blow on Friday, when the Dutch went down for the third time in as many matches during the third week of the tournament’s Preliminary Phase in Ljubljana.

Playing a critical match against Canada, which entered the week threatened by relegation, at the Arena Stožice, the Dutch offered some resistance in the first set, but then were dominated by the North Americans, who won 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-15).

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The Netherlands, which earlier on Friday went down to the bottom of the standings in 18^th place, now find themselves in a critical position to avoid relegation. With one win and five points earned in their first 11 VNL matches, they need to defeat world champions Italy on Sunday, in their last match, to still have a chance of continuing in the VNL in 2026.

Besides taking the victory against the Italians, the Dutch will need to hope that one of 16^th-placed China, which have two wins and seven points and one more match to play, or 17^th-placed Serbia, which have two wins and six points and will still get on the court twice, don’t triumph again in the week.

“We came up short today, and I don’t really know what else I can say,” a speechless team captain Wessel Keekink reflected. “We were competitive for one set, but then not anymore. We fought the entire time, but fighting isn’t always enough, and that was the case today. We have a free day tomorrow, so we have to reset and give it all one more time. Hopefully, we’ll get a different result.”

Opposite Xander Ketrzynski led the Canadian victory with 16 points (15 kills, one block), followed by outside hitter Isaac Heslinga, who tallied 12 (11 kills, one block), and team captain and middle blocker Fynn McCarthy, who contributed ten, with seven kills, two aces and one block.

“It was a good match for us,” McCarthy said. “Having the rest day on Thursday definitely helped, but we came out and played our best ball, which is important in matches like this. We worked really hard for this, and I’m proud of everyone who contributed to our win tonight.”

On the Dutch side, opposite Michiel Ahyi was the only one to get to double digits in scoring, registering 14 points, all in kills.

Earlier on Friday in Ljubljana, Serbia claimed a critical victory in the battle against relegation, beating Ukraine 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-17). Two more matches will be held on Saturday in the Slovenian capital, with Serbia facing Canada at 16:30 local time (14:30 GMT) and the home team meeting Italy at 20:30 (18:30 GMT).

Bulgaria sweep China in Gdańsk

Also involved in the race to avoid relegation, China could have eliminated any risks of going down on Friday, but couldn’t handle Bulgaria and lost 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 26-24) in Gdańsk.

With two wins and seven matches, the Chinese are guaranteed in the Finals as the host country, but aren’t entirely safe yet. In order to confirm their presence in the VNL 2026 regardless of other results, they will need to defeat Cuba on Sunday. The victory kept Bulgaria very much alive in the race for a spot in the Finals as they now rank 11^th with five wins and 15 points and have two more matches to get into the top seven.

Star outside hitter Aleksandar Nikolov had another excellent performance for Bulgaria, leading the team with a match-high 21 points (17 kills, three aces, one block). Middle blocker and team captain Aleks Grozdanov scored 11, with nine kills and two blocks. Outside hitter Ji Daoshuai tallied 12 points for the Asians, all in kills.

Volleyball Nations League 2025: full schedule and results

The day started in Gdańsk with France taking Cuba down 3-2 (20-25, 25-15, 23-25, 25-21, 15-9). On Saturday, Bulgaria and Poland play at 17:00 local time (15:00 GMT), with Iran and France following at 20:30 (18:30 GMT).

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