Japan cope with inspired China to make VNL semis

Japan claimed the second semifinal spot in the men’s Volleyball Nations League after overcoming the resistance of the inspired home team of China in the second quarterfinal in Ningbo Beilun on Wednesday that took four sets to complete. Japan’s semifinal opponent will emerge from Thursday’s quarterfinal between Italy and the United States.

• Watch the Volleyball Nations League 2026 on VBTV

In front of nearly six thousand fans in the stands, Japan put together a 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-16, 25-23) win and made it among the best four in the VNL for the third time in history, after 2023, when they took bronze, and 2024, when they finished runners-up. China fought hard, but were eliminated from further contention.

China stormed the match on a 4-1 run. Dominating in offense, the home team widened their lead to six points at 18-12 before Japan reacted with five in a row and even stepped in front with a short-lived 20-19 lead. China, however, regained control in the money time. With a clever tip, outside hitter Li Lei brought in set point at 24-22. A moment later, middle blocker Li Yongzhen delivered the 25-23 set winner with an off-the-block spike through the middle.

Riding the momentum, China opened up an early lead in the second set, and at 14-11, the gap was as wide as three points, when the Japanese comeback started. Japan stepped in front for the first time in the set at 18-17 and never allowed the opponents to regain the lead. A sharp-angle block-out kill by outside Ran Takahashi led to set point at 24-22. Shortly after, another block-out swing, this time by opposite Yuji Nishida, ended the set at 25-23 and leveled the match.

Japan completely dominated on the court throughout set three. They ran off with a wide lead and cruised on to a 25-16 close shaped up with a monster block by Larry Ik Evbade-Dan for the last point.

Ran proved as a true leader in the fourth set, when he contributed seven points to help his team prevail on the court. But it was far from as one-sided as the previous set, as the Chinese team fought hard. They even took a momentary lead at 20-19 and, later, caught up from two points behind to level the score at 23-23, but Japan utilized their side-out and then closed the match at 25-23 with a 108.2 km/h ace by outside Shoma Tomita.

Japan outperformed China mostly in offense by 61-54 in spike kills and in net defense by 9-6 in kill blocks. They also made one fewer unforced errors than the opponents, 23 against 24, while the two sides were balanced in serving with four aces each. Ran was the best scorer of the match with a total of 21 points, including two aces and two kill blocks. He also registered a 59% success rate in attack. Larry raised five kill blocks towards a 13-point tally. Nishida also finished with 13 points, while Tomita added another 10.

“We had to win and that was the most important thing,” Ran told VBTV after the game. “But we had many mistakes and many problems, which we have to improve for the next match. I don’t know which team we will play against, but we just have to beat them. We have to focus on that game, prepare our mindset and work on communication.”

Outside hitter Wang Bin was China’s most prolific scorer with 19 points under his belt, including two aces and a block. Middle blockers Li Yongzhen and Zhang Zhejia added 13 and 12 points, respectively.

“Our block-defense system is generally improving,” said Wang Bin. “In a game like that – against Japan, who have all the skills and all the small tips – we could see that, and that is the positive takeaway today.”

The quarterfinal round in Ningbo continues on Thursday with a game between Italy and USA at 15:00 local time (07:00 UTC) and a game between Poland and Ukraine at 19:30 (11:30).

VNL 2026 schedule and results
VNL 2026 ticket information

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