Poland complete a reverse sweep to beat Canada in Chicago

The third day of matches of the second week of the Volleyball Nations League 2025 ended in a spectacular way, with FIVB World Ranking leaders Poland completing a reverse sweep to overcome Canada in Chicago on Friday.

Needing to get all three points to return to the top of the VNL standings after they lost to Italy on Wednesday and were passed by Brazil on Thursday, the Europeans came up short of their goal, but still had plenty of reason to celebrate at the NOW Arena after coming back from a two-set deficit to beat the Canadians 3-2 (30-32, 14-25, 25-17, 25-23, 15-13).

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The victory, their fifth in six VNL 2025 matches, earned the Polish two points in the VNL standings, putting them level with Brazil at 15 – the South Americans, however, have a better set ratio and continue in first place. Canada earned a point in the match and got to eight (two wins, five losses), appearing in 14^th place.

One of the players who joined the Polish roster this week in Chicago, star outside hitter Kamil Semeniuk led the team against Canada, delivering 20 points (17 kills, two aces, one block). Fellow outside hitter Artur Szalpuk also produced at an elite level, contributing 18 (15 kills, two blocks, one ace).

“We just kept playing our game and believing that at some point they wouldn’t be able to continue to play as well as they were,” Szalpuk said. “We took our chances and are just really happy that we managed to come back today.”

Canada also had two players combining to produce 38 points, as opposite Xander Ketrzynski was their leading scorer with 20 (19 kills, one ace) and outside hitter Brodie Hofer added 18 (15 kills, two aces, one block).

Italy fire eight aces and sweep China

Earlier on Friday, Italy returned to action in Chicago after a day off and displayed great energy to beat China 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-19), claiming their second victory in the American city this week. The Italians were lethal from the service line, outscoring the Chinese by eight aces to zero.

Star outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto led the Italian offense with 17 points (11 kills, four aces, two blocks), followed by opposite Kamil Rychlicki, who delivered 15 (12 kills, two aces, one block), and fellow outside hitter Daniele Lavia, who contributed 13 (12 kills, one ace).

“This victory is very important for us in the standings,” head coach Ferdinando De Giorgi said. “I think that today we served very well and that was important because China play very fast and don’t have the players to play with high sets. Tomorrow it’s going to be different against Brazil and we’re looking forward to playing against these types of teams.”

On the Chinese side, outside hitter Wen Zihua, with 12 points (11 kills, one block), and opposite Wang Bin, with 11 (all in kills), were the only ones to get to double digits in scoring.

The victory took Italy to third place in the VNL standings, with 13 points (five wins, one loss), behind Brazil and Poland. China are 15^th, with seven points (two wins, five losses), and have only one more match to play this week in Chicago.

VNL 2025 – Match Schedule & Results

Two big matches will take place at the NOW Arena on Saturday, with Italy facing Brazil at 16:00 local time (21:00 GMT) and hosts the United States battling Poland at 19:30 (00:30 GMT, Sunday).

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