Strong line-up set to deliver exciting VNL battles in Belgrade

Belgrade braces itself for an interesting women’s Volleyball Nations League competition week ahead, featuring an unpredictable group of six competitive teams, in which no result will come as a surprise. Among France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, USA and hosts Serbia, anyone can beat anyone, indeed. Based on the current VNL standings after the first competition week, however, one can deem Poland as the pool favorites and Germany and the Netherlands coming in as close seconds.

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Each of the six teams will play four matches in Belgrade this week. The daily programs for Wednesday and Sunday feature three games each, while Thursday, Friday and Saturday will offer two matches a day.

Bronze medalists of the previous two editions of the VNL and hosts of this year’s Finals, Poland arrive in the Serbian capital as the fourth-placed team in the current table on a 3-1 win-loss record and 10 points. With a strong squad featuring the likes of Agnieszka Korneluk, Magdalena Stysiak and Malwina Smarzek, who will be in action again this week, they mastered three-point wins over Thailand, hosts China and Belgium in Beijing two weeks ago, and only lost to Turkiye in a hard-fought five-setter.

On Wednesday, Poland will start their Belgrade campaign against the Netherlands. It will be the second match of the day, serving off at 16:30 local time (14:30 UTC). The Dutch played in Ottawa last week. They bounced back from a straight-set loss to Japan in their opening match with a four-set win over hosts Canada. They lost in five sets to the Dominican Republic, only to bounce back again with a sweep of their last match against Bulgaria. After the first week, the Netherlands are in eighth place on 2-2 and 7.

Germany started their first week in Rio de Janeiro with a straight-set win over Korea and finished it with a four-set win over Czechia. In between, they put up some fights against mighty Italy and Brazil, but lost to both in the tie-breakers, summing up the week in 2-2 and 8, and sixth place in the standings. This week, the team will be reinforced by experienced setter Mia Kastner.

In Belgrade’s opening match on Wednesday at 13:00 (11:00), Germany will take on France, currently in 14^th place on 1-3 and 3. Their only victory in Beijing came in four sets against Belgium, in between losses to Turkiye, China and Thailand. For the matches in Belgrade, however, the team will be joined by star opposite Lucille Gicquel and charismatic captain Helena Cazaute.

In the last match on opening day, at 20:00 (18:00), the home team will be challenged by three-time VNL champions and regular Olympic medalists since 2008 USA. The Americans are running in 13^th place on 1-3 and 4, after losing to Italy and Brazil in straights sets and to Czechia in five, and shutting out Korea in the first week’s pool in Rio. Now their young squad will experience a positive boost with the arrival of players like solid middle blockers Dana Rettke and Brionne Butler.

In front of their home crowd in Belgrade, reigning world champions Serbia will try to score their first win of VNL 2025. Their rejuvenated team managed to collect three points from their five-set encounters with the Dominican Republic, Bulgaria and Canada in Ottawa. They were shut out by Japan and finished the week second from the bottom, in 17^th place. For their home gig, the squad was joined by experienced middle blocker and captain Maja Aleksic.

The VNL Preliminary Phase features three competition weeks, with each of the 18 teams playing a total of 12 matches. The eight best-ranked national teams in the Preliminary Phase will qualify for the Finals, which will be held in Lodz, Poland from July 23 to 27, with the host country already with a guaranteed spot.

Volleyball Nations League 2025: full schedule and results

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