Poland blocks Japan on way to VNL semis

Poland swept the last of the four men’s Volleyball Nations League quarterfinals in Ningbo, China. On Thursday, they hammered out a 3-0 (25-23, 26-24, 25-12) shutout of Japan, blocking the Asian team’s quest for a third consecutive medal in the competition, but staying on track towards a sixth consecutive VNL podium of their own. In Saturday’s semifinals the reigning European champions will take on Brazil.

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“Blocking” is probably the most appropriate word to use in this case, as the difference in the number of kill blocks made the big difference in the match. Poland put up as many as 14 stuffs during the match against only three from Japan. The Asian team’s abundant unforced errors also contributed to their setback, as they gifted 24 points to the Polish side, who made only 16 mistakes in the game.

Outside hitter Tomasz Fornal led the blockers with four kill blocks to his name and piled up an 11-point total contribution to Poland’s victory. He also registered a 58% success rate in attack. After a spectacular foot save by 20-year-old middle blocker Jakub Nowak, it was Fornal, who set the ball for cross-court teammate Kamil Semeniuk to kill the match winner. Opposite Kewin Sasak impressed with three aces and two kill blocks, as well as a 63% success rate in spiking, towards a team-high 15 points.

“I think we focused on blocking and practiced this element well, so it worked to day. We are happy to advance to the semifinals and we are looking forward to the next game,” Kewin Sasak told VBTV after the match. “We played a game against Brazil in this VNL. It was a tough game. We lost. So, we want to change the score this time, for sure. We want to win and, in my opinion, the block-defense will be the most important, and the service. We have to push on the service.”

The two sides were even in aces, with four each, while spiking was the only scoring element, in which Japan slightly outperformed their opponents with 36 kills against 34. Opposite Kento Miyaura was the best scorer of the match with a total of 17 points, including two directly from the serving line. The other 15 came from attacks at a 52% success rate. Outside hitter and captain Yuki Ishikawa added another 11 points for Japan, all in swings.

“Today we could net get a good result, so we have to prepare for getting good results at the World Championship,” Kento Miyaura commented. “In this VNL, we played well. We were able to show our kind of volleyball, but we have to improve.”

Poland and Brazil will take to the court at the Beilun Gymnasium for the second semifinal on Saturday, August 2. The match will serve off at 19:00 local time (11:00 UTC). Before that, at 15:00 local time (07:00 UTC), Italy will take on Slovenia in the other semifinal.

Volleyball Nations League 2025: full schedule and results

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