Dominicans power through and win another thriller

The first week of the Volleyball Nations League 2025 has been intense, but also successful for the Dominican Republic, which secured on Friday their second victory in three matches in the tournament.

One of the six teams competing in Pool 1, in Ottawa, Canada, the Queens of the Caribbean won their second five-setter in three days at The Arena at TD Place, taking the Netherlands down to keep their record positive. The second match of the day was much faster and one-sided, and had Japan sweeping reigning world champions Serbia.

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If their opening-match five-set victory over Serbia on Wednesday featured a massive comeback for the Dominicans, their triumph over the Dutch had a different script, with ups and downs from both sides and tremendous back-and-forth before the Caribbeans prevailed 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 28-26, 22-25, 15-13).

With two of their first three matches in Ottawa going to five sets, the Dominicans have played as many as 14 sets so far – before beating Serbia, they lost 3-1 to Bulgaria on Thursday.

Against the Dutch, the Caribbean could rely on their two main scorers as Brayelin Martínez and Gaila González combined for an impressive 51 points – the outside hitter registered 26, with 23 kills, two blocks and one ace, while the opposite produced 25, with 19 kills, three blocks and three aces.

“As Dominicans, we never give up,” Brayelin reflected after the match. “We always bring our joy into the court, and that helps us. It was a really tough match, and I think that our experience made a difference. I’m very glad that I got to help my team, and I want to congratulate the Dutch team because they did a really good job.”

The Netherlands, who have one victory in three matches, had five players getting to double digits in scoring – opposites Elles Dambrink (22) and Nicole Van De Vosse (14), middle blocker Indy Baijens (15) and Britte Stuut (12) and outside hitter Iris Vos (13).

Japan keep great form against Serbia

The schedule of the third day of action in Ottawa was completed with a dominant performance of Japan, which gave world champions Serbia no chance and won 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-13). The Asians are one of just two teams that are yet to drop a set in the VNL 2025, alongside Brazil.

Japanese opposite Yukiko Wada led the winning side's offense with a match-high 17 points (16 kills, one ace). The Asians also got solid production from their outside hitters, with Yoshino Sato tallying 14 points (13 kills, one ace) and team captain Mayu Ishikawa adding ten, all in kills.

"I'm very happy that we managed to win 3-0 tonight," Ishikawa reacted. "The next matches are going to be tough and we're going to try to play like we did today, with good blocking and defense. Things are going well for us and I believe the good communication we have is helping us a lot. We're looking forward to playing tomorrow."

On the Serbian side, opposite Vanja Bukilić led the way with 12 points (ten kills, one block, one ace), followed by star middle blocker Hena Kurtagić, who registered ten, with six kills, three blocks and one ace.

VNL 2025 – Match Schedule & Results

On Saturday, Canada and Japan will open the day in Ottawa at 16:00 (20:00 GMT), with European rivals Serbia and Bulgaria meeting later, at 19:30 (23:30 GMT).

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