VNL 2025

Miyaura pulls Japan through furious comeback against Argentina

The home team reverse-sweeps the South American opponent in Chiba

Published 01:34, 17 Jul 2025

Argentina (ARG) vs. Japan (JPN) men - Pool 9 - Preliminary Phase #51913905

Japan’s Kento Miyaura diving in defense against Argentina

Spearheaded by opposite Kento Miyaura, hosts Japan pulled off a spectacular comeback from two sets down against Argentina in the second men’s Volleyball Nations League match of the day in Chiba on Thursday to improve to a 7-3 win-loss record and 20 points in fourth place in the current VNL standings, well on their way to securing a spot at the Finals in Ningbo. On 5-5 and 14, Argentina are in eighth place, just below the cut-off line for the quarterfinals for now.

Watch the Volleyball Nations League on VBTV

Miyaura hammered out a solid 23 points towards Japan’s 3-2 (23-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 15-13) victory. He delivered all of his points in attack at a 59% success rate. Star outside hitters Ran Takahashi and captain Yuki Ishikawa added 16 and 13 points, respectively. However, to mount this comeback, Japan’s French head coach Laurent Tillie had to resort to a number of substitutions, so a lot of his younger players also chipped into this great team effort that led the home side to success.

“It was a tough game for us. They played very well in the first and in the second sets, but after the third set, we played very well. We changed some players and the substitutes played well. Young players like (Shoma) Tomita and (Masato) Kai perform very well, when they are on the court, so I am very, very happy for the team,” Ishikawa told VBTV.

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Volleyball Nations League (@volleyballnationsleague)

As many as four players reached the double digits on Argentina’s side. Outside Luciano Palonsky led the way with a team-high 18 points, while opposite Bruno Lima hit another 16. Star middle blocker and captain Agustin Loser impressed with six of the team’s 16 kill blocks in the match to finish with 15 points. Another four stuffs were authored by outside Armoa Morel towards a 13-point tally.

Argentina vs. Japan - Highlights | Men's VNL 2025

Thursday’s VNL action moves over to Gdansk and Ljubljana for two matches starting at 16:30 local time (14:30 UTC) – an all-Asian duel between China and Iran in Poland and an all-European clash between Ukraine and Italy in Slovenia.