Poland to take on Slovenia in Saturday’s VNL semis

Defending champions Poland reserved the last semifinal spot in the men’s Volleyball Nations League after a hard-fought four-set win over Ukraine in Thursday’s second quarterfinal in Ningbo Beilun, China. In Saturday’s semifinals, they will lock horns with Slovenia.

• Watch the Volleyball Nations League 2026 on VBTV

Poland managed to overcome Ukraine’s spirited resistance and claim a 3-1 (25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 25-17) win, thus advancing to the semifinals for the seventh consecutive time in the eight-edition history of the VNL. Ukraine can leave the competition with their heads held high, after advancing to the Finals for the first time in history and showing a good performance against the number one team in the FIVB World Ranking in the quarters.

With star outside hitter Wilfredo Leon leading the way with nine points, Poland controlled the scoreboard from start to finish in the first set. The gap was as wide as seven points at 21-14, when Ukraine attempted a comeback. In the end, they tried to tackle a quadruple Polish set point denying the opponents the first two opportunities to close the set, but on the third, middle blocker Bartlomiej Lemanski stuffed an attack by Ukrainian outside Oleh Plotnytskyi for 25-22.

Ukraine stepped up their performance on all counts and the second set was much more competitive, with the gap swinging from one point Poland’s way to three points Ukraine’s way. In the end, it was three points Ukraine’s way, shaped up with a monster block by 18-year-old Maksym Tonkonoh against the spike of Wilfredo Leon for 25-22.

Set three went quite even through 10-10, when Poland broke away for good. Opposites Bartlomiej Boladz and Vasyl Tupchii engaged in a swinging race to keep the suspense. After 22-20 Poland’s way, Boladz put the ball on the floor with a cross-court kill, outside Kamil Semeniuk brought in set point with an off-the-block spike, and Tupchii attacked out of bounds to end the set at 25-20 and put Poland in the lead again.

The fourth set was quite one-sided. Poland stormed in on a 6-2 run and never looked back. Some fantastic blocking from Boladz (five stuffs) was the highlight of the set as the defending champions powered on to close the set and the match at 25-17 with a successful swing by outside Artur Szalpuk.

Bartlomiej Boladz was by far the best scorer of the match with 24 points. He spiked 19 at a 66% success rate and authored five of Poland’s 14 kill blocks in the match, against seven from Ukraine. Poland outscored their opponents in the other elements as well – 52-50 in spike kills, 4-3 in serving aces and 24-27 in unforced errors. Wilfredo Leon also reached the double digits with 16 points, including two aces.

“Tough game! Ukraine is a good team. But most important is the win,” Boladz told VBTV after the match. “I hope the next game will be better, because I think our level was not like always. This season, Ukraine showed that they can play very well and won against some top teams.”

Vasyl Tupchii led Ukraine with 13 points, all in swings. Outside Dmytro Yanchuk added 13, including two aces, while middle blocker and captain Yurii Semeniuk finished with 10, including three blocks.

“It was a difficult game today, but I am so happy for my team. We played, we tried, we did… and I think we showed everything that we have today. I love this team!” Yurii Semeniuk exclaimed.

On Saturday, Slovenia will face Poland at 15:00 local time (07:00 UTC), while Japan and the United States will hit the court at 19:30 (11:30).

VNL 2026 schedule and results
VNL 2026 ticket information

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