VNL 2025

USA beat Argentina and surpass them in race for VNL Finals

Robinson leads the Americans to victory despite an impressive 30 points from Kukartsev

Published 10:23, 18 Jul 2025

Argentina (ARG) vs. USA (USA) men - Pool 9 - Preliminary Phase #52015691

USA’s Cooper Robinson spikes past the Argentinean blockers

USA made an important step in the race for the spots in the men’s Volleyball Nations League Finals. In Friday’s opening game in Chiba, Japan, they beat one of their direct rivals for qualification – Argentina – in four sets and rose to ninth place in the current VNL standings, on a 6-4 win-loss record and 16 points. In the heated race for the quarterfinal vacancies, the Americans are one of the five teams with six wins each, lined up in the places from fifth to ninth. Argentina, on the other hand, dropped to 11^th place on 5-5 and 14, but are still well in contention for the tickets to Ningbo.

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USA capitalized mostly on the many unforced errors by their South American opponents to earn a 3-1 (25-23, 20-25, 25-20, 25-23) victory. 22-year-old outside hitter Cooper Robinson led the way to success with 20 points to his name, including the match winner. To his 18 kills in attack, he added one ace and one kill block. Middle blocker Merrick McHenry impressed with a 79% success rate in attack. He authored two of USA’s six aces in the match to finish with 13 points. So did opposite Kyle Ensing.

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“This was super fun! We had some great energy on the court. It was really great to play with some of the guys again, so I had a blast! It was a very important win. We needed to win this one. If we had lost, we would have been out of contention, so this was a huge win,” Robinson told VBTV. “The crowd here is amazing! I love all these fans. They are so energetic and passionate about the game of volleyball, so I can’t wait to play here next year.”

Argentina’s opposite Pablo Kukartsev was by far the best scorer of the match. He put away 30 points, spiking 26 at a 52% success rate and scoring two each in blocking and serving. Outside Luciano Palonsky added another 16 for the South American side, all in attack.

Next in Chiba, Brazil will take on hosts Japan in a huge clash serving off at 19:20 local time (10:20 UTC), before Friday’s VNL action continues in Gdansk and Ljubljana.