Cuba stun Poland and hold onto seventh place

Cuba headed to Gdańsk for the third and last week of the Volleyball Nations League 2025 Preliminary Phase aware that they’d need to score big wins in order to qualify for the tournament’s Finals.

On Thursday, the Caribbean did it for a second-straight day as, after beating direct rivals Bulgaria in a five-set thriller on Wednesday, they shocked FIVB World Ranking leaders Poland in front of over 9,000 of their home fans at the Ergo Arena to come out on top 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-21, 26-24) and strongly help their cause with their first victory over the Polish since 2010.

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The three points earned with the victory were critical for the Cubans to continue inside the qualification zone for the Finals – they are seventh, with six wins and 18 points, and only rank lower than fifth-placed France and sixth-placed Ukraine because of their lower set ratio. Poland are fourth, with seven wins and 20 points.

Outside hitter Marlon Yant was again a scoring force for Cuba, leading the team with a match-high 18 points (15 kills, two aces, one block). Opposite Jose Masso (15), outside hitter Miguel Ángel López (12) and middle blocker Javier Concepción (ten) also got to double digits in scoring.

“It was not a surprise for us because we always fight a lot,” Concepción said. “Our goal today was to keep our level high the entire time, and we were so happy with the victory; there was a lot of emotion at the end. But this is just one small step, and we still have a long way to go. We’re happy with it, but it’s not done yet.”

Poland got 11 points (all in kills) from opposite Kewin Sasak and then from outside hitter Tomasz Fornal, who registered seven kills, two aces and one block.

Earlier on Thursday in Gdańsk, Iran topped China 3-0 (28-26, 25-21, 25-17). On Friday, the match schedule at Ergo Arena will have Cuba meeting France at 16:30 local time (14:30 GMT) and China facing Bulgaria at 20:00 (18:00 GMT).

Slovenia sweep the Netherlands and continue in the mix

The day only wasn’t perfect for Cuba because Slovenia secured a solid 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-21) victory over the Netherlands in the country’s capital Ljubljana and continue on their tail.

The Slovenians are now eighth with six wins and 17 points, but have two home matches to end the week. The Netherlands are still threatened by relegation, appearing in 17^th place with one win and five points.

Like it happened against Canada on Wednesday, opposite Tonček Štern (12 points) and outside hitters Rok Možič (11) and Žiga Štern (11) led the Slovenian victory.

“We’re very happy to have won our first two matches in front of our fans,” Možič remarked. “We’re still close to qualifying and that’s our main goal for the week. We have two more matches and I’m sure we’re going to have even more people on the stands over the weekend.”

With ten points (seven kills, two blocks, one ace), opposite Silvester Meijs was the only Dutch player to get to double digits in scoring in the match.

Volleyball Nations League 2025: full schedule and results

The first match of the day in Ljubljana had Italy beating Ukraine 3-2 (25-15, 25-20, 16-25, 23-25, 15-10). On Friday, Ukraine and Serbia will play first, at 16:30 local time (14:30 GMT), with the Netherlands and Canada following at 20:00 (18:00 GMT).

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