Cuba fail to clinch a spot in the Finals and stay on hold

Cuba had the opportunity to seal their qualification for the Volleyball Nations League 2025 Finals in their hands on Sunday, the last day of Preliminary Phase matches in the tournament, but couldn’t capitalize on it and will now have to wait until the end of the day to find out if they will make the trip to Ningbo, China, to compete in the VNL Finals from July 30 – August 3 or not.

The Caribbean would have secured their spot in the decisive round of the event had they topped China in Gdańsk, but they instead lost 3-2 (20-25, 25-23, 15-25, 25-22, 19-17) and now will watch from the stands as the other results play out.

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The Cubans are now in sixth place in the VNL standings with six wins and 20 points. For them to qualify, they need that one of Bulgaria, which play Iran in Gdańsk, or Slovenia, which are set to face Serbia in Ljubljana, doesn’t win.

Wang Bin was a key factor in the Chinese victory as the 24-year-old outside hitter led the Asians with 26 points, earned with 24 kills, one block and one ace. Opposite and team captain Jiang Chuan tallied 13, with ten kills, two blocks and one ace.

On the Cuban side, a stellar 31-point performance from star outside hitter Marlon Yant, who left the court with 29 kills and two blocks, was not enough to secure them the win. Team captain and outside hitter Miguel Ángel López registered 17 (14 kills, two blocks, one ace).

“China did a great job today,” Masso said. “They fought for every point, all the time. We didn’t push enough to win the game. We fought, but I think we need to be better at this as well, as sometimes we don’t do enough.”

Two more matches will be played in Gdańsk on Sunday, with Bulgaria meeting Iran at 17:00 local time (15:00 GMT) and France and Poland battling in a rematch of the Paris 2024 Olympics gold medal match at 20:30 local time (18:30 GMT).

Ukraine lose and are out

VNL rookies Ukraine were in the same situation as Cuba, needing just one win to book their tickets to Ningbo, but they lost to Canada 3-1 (25-21, 25-27, 31-29, 25-21) in Ljubljana and are out of the race for a spot in the Finals.

The Europeans continue inside the qualification zone for the Finals, appearing in seventh place with six wins and 18 points, but will inevitably be passed by the winners of the match between Bulgaria and Iran, dropping to eighth.

Outside hitter Skyler Varga carried the Canadian offense against the Ukrainians, producing a match-high 27 points (24 kills, two blocks, one ace), while opposite Jordan Canham added another 14, with 13 kills and one block.

Ukraine had outside hitter Dmytro Yanchuk leading the team with 21 points (19 kills, one block, one ace) and opposite Vasyl Tupchii, middle blocker Yurii Semeniuk and outside hitter Tymofii Poluian contributing 13 each.

“We had a good chance today and we just didn’t take it,” Poluian reflected. “I don’t know why that happened. We had multiple chances here this week and missed them every time. We didn’t expect to be in this position to qualify in the final week, but unfortunately, we couldn’t take the final step and take the chance we had.”

Volleyball Nations League 2025: full schedule and results

The last day of matches in Ljubljana continues on Sunday with already-relegated the Netherlands facing Italy at 16:30 local time (14:30 GMT) and Slovenia playing Serbia at 20:30 (18:30 GMT).

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