Poland shuts out Turkiye to collect third VNL win

Poland topped the current standings in the men’s Volleyball Nations League 2025 as the first team to collect three victories so far. With Saturday’s straight-set win over Turkiye in Xi’an, the world’s number one team maintained its undefeated status since the start of the competition. Meanwhile, on 0-3, the Turkish squad is still looking for its first win of the season. Earlier in the day, hosts China pleased the home fans with a four-set victory over the Netherlands to improve to 2-1, while the Dutch dropped to 1-2.

• Watch the Volleyball Nations League on VBTV

Once again, Turkiye put up quite a fight against their opponents, but Poland proved too strong for them and defeated them in straight sets, 3-0 (28-26, 25-23, 25-21). Other than capitalizing on the abundant Turkish errors (33 against 22), Poland made good use of their serving, the only other element in which they outscored the opponent, with five aces against two. Their 23-year-old outside hitter Michal Gierzot led the team with 13 points, including one ace and one kill block. Also with an ace and a block to his name, his cross-court teammate and captain Rafal Szymura registered a 10-point tally.

“It’s a pleasure to be part of this team. I am really happy that we managed to win all three matches so far,” Gierzot told VBTV after the game. “We don’t care if we win four matches this week, because it doesn’t mean anything. We are Poland and we want more than that. We want to compete with everyone and win over everyone.”

Turkiye managed to outscore their mighty rivals in attack, with 41 successful swings against 35. 20-year-old opposite Berk Dilmenler made his debut for the Turkish national team, producing a match-high 15 points, also including one ace and one kill block.

The competition day in Xi’an started with China’s 3-1 (25-19, 25-20, 13-25, 25-17) win over the Netherlands. Similarly, they outplayed their opponents mostly by making fewer unforced mistakes, 20 against 28, and from the serving line, with seven aces against two. The Europeans did better in offence with 55 spike kills against 47.

Middle blocker Li Yongzhen was China’s man of the match. He raised four kill blocks and fired three aces, while swinging at a 75% success rate to lead his team in scoring with a total of 13 points. Opposite Wen Zihua contributed another 12, while outside hitter Ji Daoshuai chipped in with 10 points.

On the Netherlands’ side, outside Bennie Tuinstra put together a match-high 14 points. Opposite Michiel Ahyi and middle Cornelis Luuc van Der Ent also reached the double digits with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Sunday’s last competition day in Xi’an will feature three matches. The program starts at 11:30 local time (03:30 UTC) with the Netherlands taking on Japan. China and Turkiye will meet at 15:00 (07:00), while Poland and Serbia will lock horns at 19:00 (11:00) to close the action in Pool 3.

Meanwhile, Saturday’s VNL action continues with the day’s Pool 2 matches in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Pool 1 matches in Quebec City, Canada.

Volleyball Nations League 2025: full schedule and results

Quick links:
Volleyball Nations League
VBTV
Volleyball World Facebook
Volleyball World X
Volleyball World Instagram
Volleyball World YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter