Nishida hits 1000th point and 100th ace in VNL as Japan down Slovenia to stay unbeaten

Japan’s star opposite Yuji Nishida hit not one, but two big milestones in the men’s Volleyball Nations League as his team battled it out for a four-set win over Slovenia in Linyi on Sunday to finish the week undefeated in four matches played, while handing their European opponents their first loss of the season. While Nishida jumped over the 1000-point and the 100-ace marks in the VNL, Japan jumped over Slovenia into the number five position in the FIVB World Ranking. Earlier on Sunday in China, Poland came back from two sets down to defeat Ukraine, while the home team shut out Cuba to score their first win of VNL 2026.

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To reach the 1,000 VNL points milestone, Nishida needed to score just six points in Sunday’s game against Slovenia. He did well better than that and contributed 17 to his team’s 3-1 (25-27, 25-16, 25-22, 25-22) victory over last season’s semifinalists. With a total of 1,011 points so far, Yuji is number three in the all-time VNL scorers ranking, behind his teammate Yuki Ishikawa with 1,073 points and Netherlands’ Nimir Abdel-Aziz with 1,012.

Nishida’s tally against Slovenia included 13 spike kills at a 50% success rate in attack, one kill block and, most importantly, three aces. Before the game, he needed just one serving point to reach an all-time 100. Now with 102, he is 29 aces short of leader Nimir’s 131 and stands second in that chart.

Outside hitter and captain Yuki Ishikawa also scored three aces against Slovenia and stands third in the all-time ranking with a total of 84. He added another 20 in swings at a 56% success rate towards a match-high 23 points. His cross-court teammate Ran Takahashi finished with 16 points, while middle blocker Akihiro Yamauchi reached the double digits with 10.

Opposite Toncek Stern led Slovenia with 21 points, including two aces and a kill block. 21-year-old Nik Mujanovic, who went back to the left-winger position, added 18 points, also including two aces and a kill block. The other Slovenian outside Klemen Sen put away 11 points in the match.

“It was a tough match, because we lost the first set, but in the second, the third and the fourth sets we came back and we are so happy. The Slovenian team served very well, so we needed to stay patient. To win all four matches here is great for us,” Ishikawa told VBTV after the game.

With this victory, Japan leapt up to the top of the current VNL standings with 11 points as the only team with four wins before the remaining matches to be played on Sunday. Slovenia suffered their first loss, but they are still among the top four in the table, on a 3-1 win-loss record and 6 points.

7.75 World Ranking points changed hands from Slovenia to Japan, so the Asian team overtook their European opponents into the world’s number five spot, while Slovenia dropped to number seven.

In the first match of the day in Linyi, defending champions Poland avoided another big upset by reverse-sweeping their encounter with Ukraine to get back on the winning track with a 3-2 (19-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-21, 15-11) victory. On 2-2 and 7 each, Poland and Ukraine stand sixth and seventh, respectively. Opposite Aliaksei Nasevich was the best scorer of that match with 19 points, while outside Dmytro Yanchuk led Ukraine with 13, including three aces.

Then, hosts China finally scored their first win of the VNL season, a 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-23) shutout of Cuba, jumping up to 11^th place on 1-3 and 4 and leaving the opponents second from the bottom, in 17^th place on 0-4 and 1. In front of a nearly 6,800-strong crowd in the stands, the two opposites – China’s Wen Zihua and Cuba’s Alejandro Gonzalez – shared the match top scorer honors with 13 points each.

The last day of the first competition week in the men’s VNL continues with the game between Belgium and Iran in Brasilia. The second fixture in the Brazilian capital will offer a southern European classic between Bulgaria and Serbia. A South American derby between Brazil and Argentina will crown the program. The games in Ottawa are Germany against France, Canada against Turkiye and USA against Italy.

VNL 2026 schedule and results
VNL 2026 ticket information

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