Herbots fires 31 points and carries Belgium to first VNL 2025 victory

The top scorer of the Volleyball Nations League in 2021 and 2022, star outside hitter Britt Herbots carried Belgium to their first victory in the 2025 edition of the tournament, on Thursday, in Beijing.

With the team captain producing a whooping 31 points, the Europeans took down Thailand in the first match of the day at the at the National Indoor Stadium. The second duel of the day in Pool 3 also had a European team prevailing over an Asian one, with Poland overcoming hosts China to continue undefeated.

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Returning to the VNL for the first time since 2022, the Belgians recovered from an opening-match loss to China on Wednesday and secured their first triumph in the tournament in almost three years. In a match of tight sets, the Europeans topped the Thais 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 24-26, 25-22) and secured three points in the standings and 7.72 in the FIVB World Rankings, moving one spot up to 13^th place.

Herbots, who recently moved from Savino Del Bene Scandicci to Igor Gorgonzola Novara in the Italian League, was unstoppable and left the court with an impressive 31 points, produced with 30 kills and one block. This is the highest-scoring performance in the VNL 2025 so far, and the Belgian became just the second player to reach the 30-point mark in the seventh edition of the tournament - Serbia's Aleksandra Uzelac was the first.

The top scorer of the VNL in both the 2021 and the 2022 seasons, Herbots is no stranger to producing 30-point performances in the tournament. During those two years, she did it seven times in 24 appearances. In 2022, she also set the second-highest single-match score record at the FIVB Volleyball World Championship, delivering 41 points in a four-set victory over the Netherlands.

Young opposite Pauline Martin was Belgium’s second most productive player in the match, contributing 19 points (17 kills, two blocks).

“It was a tough match,” Martin said. “We knew that playing Thailand is never easy, especially because of their offense. I’m just really glad that we were able to get the win today and play our game. We had some difficult moments, but we never gave up, and that’s how we got to where we are, and we are excited to see what we can do in the upcoming matches.”

For Thailand, which are still chasing their first victory in the VNL, middle blocker Thatdao Nuekjang, with 18 points (16 kills, two blocks), and opposite Thanacha Sooksod, with 13 (all in kills), were the standouts.

Poland beat China and continue undefeated

The second match of the day in Beijing featured two teams that had won in their debuts and Poland were able to keep their undefeated status after taking hosts China down 3-1 (25-22, 20-25, 25-19, 25-21).

As it had happened in their triumph over Thailand, on Wednesday, the Polish benefited from a well-diversified offense to take the win, with four players getting to double digits in scoring – star opposite Magdalena Stysiak and outside hitter Martyna Czyrniańska scored 20 each, with middle blockers Agnieszka Korneluk and Aleksandra Gryka adding 17 and 12, respectively.

“We’re very happy because today we played great volleyball,” Stysiak said. “Of course, we still need to grow and to improve, but I’m happy that we were able to play at this level against such a strong opponent as China. We know that to accomplish big things, we need to be together on and off the court, and this week is helping us build that chemistry.”

Having 16-year-old setter Zhang Zixuan as a starter for the second time in as many matches, the Chinese saw outside hitter Zhuang Yushan lead the team with 17 points (16 kills, one ace), followed by star middle blocker Wang Yuanyuan, who added 14, with eight kills and a match-high six blocks.

VNL 2025 – Match Schedule & Results

The Belgians will try to keep their momentum on Friday, when they face France at 15:00 local time (7:00 GMT). The second match of the third day of action in Pool 3 will have Türkiye and Thailand meeting at 19:30 (11:30 GMT).

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