VNL 2025

Italy edge Japan in nail-biting five-set saga

The Olympic champions save four Japanese match points in an overtime tie-breaker

Published 02:50, 20 Jun 2025

Japan (JPN) vs. Italy (ITA) women - Pool 5 - Preliminary Phase #47727883

Italy’s Sarah Fahr in attack against Japan

In a clash of the unbeaten, Italy squeezed out a narrow tie-breaker overtime victory over Japan on Friday as the women’s Volleyball Nations League competition day continued in Hong Kong. The still undefeated defending champions registered their seventh consecutive win to stay on top of the current VNL standings on 19 points. The point earned with their first loss of the season lifted Japan to third place on a 5-1 win-loss record and 15 points.

Watch the Volleyball Nations League on VBTV

Japan came back from a set down twice in their epic battle with Italy and were the first to reach match point at 14-13 in the tie-breaker. The reigning Olympic champions, however, denied four of those before edging ahead again to celebrate a nail-biting 3-2 (25-23, 16-25, 25-15, 20-25, 19-17) victory.

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While Japan outplayed Italy convincingly in attack (76-62 in successful swings) and slightly from the serving line (6-5 in aces), Italy made a big difference in blocking (13-5 in kill blocks) and in making fewer unforced errors (18-25). Five Italian players reached the double digits in this match. Middle blocker Sarah Fahr achieved a 74% success rate in offense. She also raised two kill blocks to finish with a 16-point total. Opposite Paola Egonu matched that as she put away three aces, one block and 12 successful spikes. Outside hitters Stella Nervini and Alice Degradi added 15 and 13 points, respectively, while middle blocker and captain Anna Danesi impressed with four kill blocks towards an 11-point tally.

“I am really happy and really proud of my team, because we played an amazing game. And to play against Japan is not so easy. So we are smiling a lot,” Danesi told VBTV after the match. “We are playing well, we are having fun and I hope we continue like this…”

CONGRATULATIONS, AZZURRE 🇮🇹!

That was a great match 🤩🔥

🏐 #Volleyball #BePartOfTheGame pic.twitter.com/3vhuQMuo8B
— Volleyball World (@volleyballworld) June 20, 2025

Japanese opposite Yukiko Wada delivered a match-high 28 points, including one ace and one block, closely followed by outside hitter and captain Mayu Ishikawa with 25 points, including two aces and one kill block. Her cross-court teammate Yoshino Sato finished with 17 points, all in attack.

“It was a tough game for sure. We played well in serving, but our reception was not so good and we need to think about this in order to improve for the next game,” Mayu Ishikawa commented. “I am thankful that there are so many fans, who are supporting us and pushing us forward during the game. That really helps us play well.”

Friday’s VNL action continues in Istanbul, where Korea is now playing against Belgium, and Canada will challenge Brazil, and in Belgrade, where France is currently playing against the Netherlands and later Germany will take on Poland.