Leon nails six aces in shutout of Slovenia, Poland stay on track to another VNL crown

Defending men’s Volleyball Nations League champions Poland stayed on track to adding another VNL crown to their showcase with an emphatic shutout of Slovenia in the first semifinal in Ningbo Beilun, China in front of nearly five thousand in the stands on Saturday. They will meet the winner of the second semifinal – between Japan and USA, set to start later on Saturday, at 19:30 local time (11:30 UTC) – for the VNL title on Sunday, while the loser of that match will take on Slovenia for the bronze.

• Watch the Volleyball Nations League 2026 on VBTV

With an impressive six serving aces from Poland’s star outside hitter Wilfredo Leon, the number one team in the FIVB World Ranking mastered a 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-17) sweep of the semifinal against Slovenia and advanced to the VNL gold medal match for the fourth time in history. So far, they have won it twice, in 2023 and 2025, and lost it once, in 2021. Slovenia, on the other hand, will play in the bronze medal game for the third consecutive and fourth overall time, and try to make their first VNL podium.

Leon was in charge on the court during a one-sided first set. He was scoring away on all counts and led his team to a convincing 25-16 close. A successful swing by opposite Bartlomiej Boladz produced the set-winning point. Poland stormed the second set on a 3-0 run, but Slovenia levelled up immediately to stay a little more competitive on the court. With Boladz now spearheading the offense, Poland regained control in the second half of the set. A monster block by middle blocker Bartlomiej Lemanski ended the set at 25-19. A 4-0 early lead in set three, delivered with the help of two aces from Leon, gave an indication that the match would soon be over. Slovenia never managed to recover from that blow, while Poland continued to dominate on the court. Two back-to-back kill blocks from outside Artur Szalpuk brought in match point, which was immediately converted to a 25-17 close by Lemanski, who reflected the overpass with two hands to an empty spot on Slovenia’s side of the court.

Poland outperformed Slovenia on all scoring counts – 9-3 in aces, 12-6 in kill blocks, 35-25 in spike kills and 18-19 in unforced errors. In addition to his six aces, Leon put away eight kills in attack and two kill blocks to top the chart with a match-high 16 points. Boladz added another 15, including two blocks and an ace. Slovenia’s 40-year-old middle Alen Pajenk raised four kill blocks and fired two aces to emerge as the team’s only player to reach the double digits in this match, with a total of 11 points.

“Not always you can win 3-0 in the semifinals. And we also dominated in each of the three sets. It’s not that easy, so you will not play this kind of a match every day,” Wilfredo Leon told VBTV. “I hope there will be more (aces) in the final.”

“I am a little bit sad, because we had some opportunities, where we could do better,” Slovenia’s outside Rok Mozic commented. “When Leon is spiking over the block, you cannot do anything, but when he’s taking a roll shot, you can take it and do something better in counterattack. We knew we would suffer a lot in attack, because they are one of the best blocking teams and that’s what happened. But we need to learn from this. Tomorrow is a new day. We need to reset and go full power. The medal is the only goal that we have, so we’ll give everything we have to win it.

The bronze medal match on Sunday will serve off at 15:40 local time (07:40 UTC) and the final showdown is scheduled at 19:30 (11:30).

VNL 2026 schedule and results
VNL 2026 ticket information

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