Japan mount reverse sweep of Thailand, Korea earn first VNL win

Thrilling five-set battles marked Wednesday’s second match in Hong Kong and first match in Istanbul, as the second competition week in the women’s Volleyball Nations League picked up speed. Japan mounted a stunning comeback from two sets down in an all-Asian clash with Thailand to stay undefeated. Another Asian team, Korea, prevented Canada from doing just the same and celebrated their first win of the season in a tie-breaker drama. Japan tops the current VNL standings on a 5-0 win-loss record and 14 points. Canada are in 10^th place on 2-3 and 5. Thailand stand 14^th on 1-4 and 4, while Korea moved up and are now second from the bottom, in 17^th place on 1-4 and 3.

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Yukiko Wada spearheaded Japan in their 3-2 (18-25, 23-25, 25-20, 25-15, 15-11) reverse sweep victory over Thailand. These were the first sets Japan lost in the competition so far this season.

The 23-year-old opposite raised three kill blocks, fired two aces and spiked 24 kills in attack to top the match charts with a total of 29 points. Her cross-court teammate Yoshino Sato added another 21 points, also including three kill blocks. Middle blocker Haruyo Shimamura delivered 16 points. So did outside and captain Mayu Ishikawa, who hit the match winner in the tie-breaker to put an end to this exciting game.

“I am happy that we got the victory in this way, because we could come back after struggling in the beginning. Thailand started amazing, but we had trust in ourselves. It was a great comeback and maybe it’s better like this,” Japan’s Turkish head coach Ferhat Akbas told VBTV after the match. “Our next matches will be very difficult. Italy and China are great teams and the Czech Republic made a surprise last week. So we just need to focus on getting better.”

With an almost error-free performance in the first two sets, Thailand showed improvement and got to within a set from a shocking upset of the table leaders. Middle blocker Thatdao Nuekjang led the team with 21 points, including three stuffs and an ace. Her swinging was successful in 61% of the cases. 19-year-old outside Warisara Seetaloed added another 14 points.

Meanwhile in Istanbul, Canada tried to pull off the same stunt. After dropping the first two sets against Korea, they attempted a comeback and leveled the match, but the Asians proved better in the tie-breaker to celebrate a 3-2 (27-25, 25-18, 15-25, 20-25, 15-13) win. Captain Sohwi Kang contributed a match-high 21 points towards the victory. She put away two aces, two kill blocks and hammered the winning point in the end. Korea’s other outside Seoyoung Yuk chipped in with 16 points, opposite Seonwoo Lee added another 15, including two aces, while middle Dahyeon Lee impressed with four kill blocks to finish with 12 points.

“We practiced hard last week and we could show it on the court today,” Dahyeon commented. “In the fifth set, we felt too much pressure, because we had to win, but we focused on what we had to do and that worked.”

With a total of 13 stuffs in the match, Canada showed a great blocking effort. Nine of those kill blocks were authored by middle Emily Maglio (five), who finished with a total of 13 points, and opposite Anna Smrek (four), who delivered a 16-point tally. 19-year-old outside Abagayle Guezen led the team with 17 points, all in spikes.

Wednesday’s VNL program continues with the opening match in Belgrade between France and Germany, the day’s last match in Hong Kong between Czechia and China, and the second game in Istanbul between Belgium and Brazil.

Volleyball Nations League 2025: full schedule and results

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