Türkiye beat Japan in key match and advance to the VNL Finals

Türkiye came out on top in a decisive match against Japan on Saturday and joined the list of national teams qualified for the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2026 Finals.

The results of the penultimate day of matches in the Preliminary Phase also confirmed the progress of the Netherlands - the Europeans will join the United States, Brazil and Italy, which qualified on Friday, and host country China in Macao from July 22-26 in the fight for the title. Two spots remain open, with Canada, Japan and Poland emerging as the candidates to claim them.

• Watch the Volleyball Nations League 2026 on VBTV

Turks and Japanese had identical campaigns before Saturday's meeting in Osaka, but the Europeans pulled ahead after their 3-1 (25-22, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22) victory, moving up to fourth place in the VNL 2026 standings with eight wins and 22 points and leaving the Asians behind in seventh place with seven wins and 19 points.

Star opposite Melissa Vargas played a big role in the Turkish triumph, leading her team with 20 points (19 kills, one ace). She had significant support from middle blockers Sinead Jack-Kısal (14 points) and Zehra Güneş (13) and outside hitter İlkin Aydin (14).

"Japan aren't afraid of anything, and it's never easy against them," Jack-Kısal remarked. "We knew they were going to score, so we just kept our heads up and our focus on what we had to do. We did a good job of using our strengths, attacking and blocking, and that played a big part tonight."

Japanese opposite Yukiko Wada topped all scorers with 27 points (26 kills, one ace), followed by team captain Mayu Ishikawa, who produced 15 points with 14 kills and one ace.

The other match of the day in Osaka had a big upset, with Thailand arguably delivering their best performance in the VNL 2026 so far to sweep third-placed Brazil 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-17). Team captain and middle blocker Thatdao Nuekjang led the Asians with 15 points (nine kills, four aces, two blocks).

Sunday will bring a full slate of matches to Osaka, with Brazil and the United States getting the day started at 12:00 local time (3:00 GMT), Thailand and Türkiye following at 15:30 (6:30 GMT) and Japan and Poland ending it at 19:20 (10:20 GMT).

Antropova drops 37 as Italy reverse sweep Canada

In Hong Kong, back-to-back defending champions Italy and Canada featured in the most exciting match of the day, which had the Europeans erasing a two-set deficit to win 3-2 (22-25, 27-29, 25-23, 25-23, 15-5) and get a reverse sweep one day after qualifying for the Finals.

Olympic and world champion opposite Ekaterina Antropova was unstoppable, scoring a VNL career-high 37 points (29 kills, five aces, three blocks) and posting the second-highest mark by a female player in VNL 2026. She outscored her Canadian counterpart, Kiera Van Ryk, by a whopping ten points.

The following match had the Dominican Republic frustrating the Chinese fans by beating the home team 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-23, 26-24) to earn their third victory in the tournament. Team captain Brayelin Martinez was their most productive player with 20 points (19 kills, one ace), while Chinese outside hitter Zhuang Yushan led all scorers with 25 (21 kills, four blocks).

On Sunday, the VNL 2026 completes its schedule in Hong Kong with Belgium battling Ukraine at 11:00 local time (3:00 GMT), Canada facing the Dominican Republic at 16:30 (8:30 GMT) and China meeting Italy at 20:00 (12:00 GMT).

Serbia triumph in Bošković's debut

In Belgrade, hosts Serbia triumphed in front of their home crowd for the second time in the week by beating Germany 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-23) in the match that marked the debut of star opposite Tijana Bošković in the VNL 2026.

The team captain briefly entered the court at the end of the first set and scored one point for the Serbians, who had outside hitter Nina Čajić as their leading scorer with 22 points (17 kills, three aces, two blocks).

In the other match of the day, France prevailed in a match involving two teams that fight to stay away from the bottom of the standings, coming from behind to beat continental rivals Bulgaria 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 30-28, 25-22). Middle blocker Eva Elouga was pivotal in their comeback, leading the team's offense with 16 points (nine kills, four blocks, three aces), two more than outside hitter Lilou Ratahiry and opposite Iman Ndiaye.

On Sunday, France face Czechia at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT), Bulgaria challenge Germany at 16:30 (14:30 GMT) and hosts Serbia play the Netherlands at 20:00 (18:00 GMT) in their country's capital.

VNL 2026 schedule and results
VNL 2026 ticket information

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