VNL 2025

Rookies Czechia stun Bulgaria for third VNL win

Germany keeps world champs Serbia winless

Published 11:22, 20 Jun 2025

Bulgaria (BUL) vs. Czechia (CZE) women - Pool 5 - Preliminary Phase #47717406

All smiles for Helena Grozer as her Czechia shocks Bulgaria

Czechia stunned Bulgaria in an emphatic shutout as Friday’s competition day in the women’s Volleyball Nations League got underway in Hong Kong. It was the third win for them out of six matches so far in their rookie VNL season. It even lifted them above the cut-off for the Finals for the moment, to eighth place in the current VNL standings, on 7 points, while Bulgaria dropped to 11^th on a 2-5 win-loss record and 7 points. Over in Belgrade, Germany put together a four-set win over hosts Serbia in Thursday’s closing match to keep the reigning world champions winless at the bottom of the table. The Germans, on the other hand, are up in fifth place on 4-2 and 13.

Watch the Volleyball Nations League on VBTV

Bulgaria failed to show the level of their previous two matches in Hong Kong against mighty Italy and China, and Czechia took full advantage of it to hammer out a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-11) shocker. The southern Europeans managed to stay competitive only in the second set, but after losing it, their spirit dropped and the third was a one-sided landslide, in which everything worked well for the central Europeans before their 20-year-old opposite Monika Brancuska nailed the match winner to stop the clocks at a demolishing 25-11.

#VNL2025: CZECHIA 🇨🇿 3-0 🇧🇬 BULGARIA

Czechia 🇨🇿 take down Bulgaria 🇧🇬 in straight sets in their first VNL head-to-head 🤩.

Helena Grozer put in an all-around effort with 17 points 🔥.

📺 Watch #VNL on VBTV: https://t.co/tLeKGVNZId

🏐 #BePartOfTheGame #volleyball pic.twitter.com/fE95Y9prx5
— Volleyball World (@volleyballworld) June 20, 2025

Spiking at a 52% success rate, Brancuska signed off with a total of 14 points, including one ace and one kill block. Outside hitter and captain Michaela Mlejnkova raised two of the team’s 10 kill blocks to finish with 13 points, while her experienced cross-court teammate Helena Grozer delivered a match-high 17 points towards Czechia’s victory. 19-year-old opposite Mikaela Stoyanova was Bulgaria’s leading scorer with 11 points.

“If you told us that we would win by 3-0, nobody would believe it,” Helena Grozer told VBTV after the game. “I am very proud of our team, because we were focused on this game, we knew that it would be important, and we did an amazing job. We also knew that it was Bulgaria’s third game in a row and they would be tired. So we were ready to push, we pushed and we did a great job. Everybody was enjoying the game, which was very important, and I think it was the key to the match.”

Germany achieved a 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-17, 25-23) victory over Serbia in Belgrade on Thursday evening. Their opposite Lena Kindermann led the way with 17 points – one kill block and 16 successful spikes. Outside Lina Alsmeier added another 15 points, including one block and one ace, while middle blocker and captain Camilla Weitzel made an important contribution from the serving line, firing five of the team’s eight aces towards the win, and finished with a double-digit total of 11 points. Sub-in outside Antonia Stautz was particularly useful in the last two sets, swinging away at an impressive 83% success rate.

On the other side of the net, Serbian middle and captain Maja Aleksic piled up a solid six kill blocks and delivered a couple of aces to finish on a team-high 16 points. 20-year-old outside hitter Vanja Ivanovic added another 15 points, all in offense.

Friday’s VNL action continues with the big one in Hong Kong, the clash between undefeated Japan and Italy, set to serve off at 20:30 local time (12:30 UTC). Later on, in the Istanbul pool, Korea will meet Belgium and Canada will challenge Brazil, while on Belgrade, France will face the Netherlands and Germany will take on Poland.