Japan and Poland claim first spots at the VNL semifinals

Currently occupying the first two spots in the FIVB Volleyball World Rankings, the men’s national teams of Japan and Poland were the first to secure their places in the semifinals of the Volleyball Nations League 2024, progressing from the quarterfinals at the Atlas Arena, in Łódź, on Thursday, the first day of the VNL Finals in Poland.

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The other two quarterfinals will be held on Friday, with Italy meeting France at 17:00 local time (15:00 GTM) – the winners will face Poland in the semifinals - and Slovenia battling Argentina at 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT) – the national team that advances will play Japan. The semifinals will follow on Saturday, with the medal matches scheduled for Sunday.

The fourth-best team in the Preliminary Phase, last year’s bronze medalists Japan earned the right of appearing in the VNL semifinals for a second-straight season with a solid 3-0 (26-24, 25-18, 26-24) victory over fifth-placed Canada.

Currently in second place in the World Rankings with 360.75 points, the Japanese benefited from an extraordinary performance from team captain Yuki Ishikawa to prevail over the Canadians. The 28-year-old Ishikawa was by far Japan’s most productive player on the court, producing 26 points, with 20 kills, three blocks and three aces. The next Japanese player to appear in the box score after him was fellow outside hitter Tatsunori Otsuka, who tallied ten points, with eight kills and two aces.

“This was such a tough match,” Ishikawa reflected. “But we managed to win in three and are very happy. We knew Canada was playing very well so we knew we had to keep our focus the entire time. Last year we lost in the semifinals and this time we’re determined to make another step forward and play in the final.”

Canada, who will now entirely focus on the upcoming Paris Olympics, had three players reaching double digits in scoring in opposite Arthur Szwarc, who led the team with 17 (15 kills, two aces), and outside hitters Stephen Maar and Eric Loeppky, who added 14 and ten, respectively.

Volleyball Nations League 2024: schedule and results

Poland come from behind to beat Brazil

In the second quarterfinal, Poland, the second-best team in the Preliminary Phase, came from behind to knock seventh-placed Brazil out with a 3-1 (18-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-16) victory, eliminating the South Americans in this stage of the tournament for a second-straight season.

The defending champions, who are at the top of the World Rankings with 424.50 points, had outside hitter Wilfredo Leon as their main scorer with 18 points (14 kills, two blocks, two aces). Opposite Bartosz Kurek (12), outside hitter Tomasz Fornal (11) and middle blocker Jakub Kochanowski (ten) also reached double digits in scoring.

“Against Brazil, you always have to dig deep to get a win,” Kurek said. “They put on a great fight and for some time it looked like they were going to advance, but we never gave up, stuck to our plan and found our rhythm between the second and the third sets. We managed to stay tough mentally and focused on executing what we had discussed before the game.”

Brazilian young opposite Darlan de Souza led all scorers with 21 points (17 kills, three blocks, one ace), with outside hitter Yoandy Leal contributing another 17, with 15 kills and two aces.

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