Four berths are still up for grabs as the third week of the Preliminary Phase enters the weekend
Published 08:08, 10 Jul 2026
The USA came back twice to beat Türkiye in five in Japan
The United States, Brazil and Italy claimed their spots in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2026 Finals and are set to join hosts China in Macao from July 22-26.
The North and South Americans, who are competing in Osaka in the third and last week of the Preliminary Phase, and the Europeans, who play in Hong Kong, all won their matches on Friday and can no longer be caught by teams sitting outside the qualification zone. With that, four berths continue up for grabs.
Americans and Brazilians share the top of the VNL 2026 standings with nine wins and 26 points - the USA have the lead due to their higher set ratio. With only five other national teams capable of ending their campaigns with nine wins, both sides are guaranteed to end the Preliminary Phase inside the top seven. Italy have eight wins and 24 points and can only be caught by four of their chasers, having also qualified.
Coming from a thrilling five-set loss to Poland on Thursday that prevented them from qualifying, the Americans played another tiebreaker on Friday, but this time were on the right side of it, topping Türkiye 3-2 (22-25, 25-23, 27-29, 25-21, 15-8) and booking their tickets to Macao.
USA 🇺🇸 vs. Türkiye 🇹🇷 - Highlights | Week 3 | Women's VNL 2026
The three-time VNL champions had outside hitters Avery Skinner and Logan Eggleston as their leading scorers with 19 points, while Olympic champion opposite Jordan Thompson contributed another 17 in their victory.
"This win is just a testament to the hard work we've been putting in," Thompson reflected. "We are a bit of a younger team, and we've been trying to find our chemistry and our identity. What we may lack in experience, we make up for in natural talent, and that's really exciting because as we continue to grow and get more experience, we're only going to get stronger. Today, everybody stepped up and made some really big plays."
Star opposite Melissa Vargas had an extraordinary 35-point (32 kills, three aces) performance, her second-best in the VNL 2026 so far, and kept the Turks, who are inside the qualification zone in seventh place (seven wins, 19 points), in the game.
A few hours later, Brazil confirmed their presence in the Finals by taking Poland down 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-23, 28-26).
Poland vs. Brazil - Highlights | Women's VNL 2026
Olympic medalist Ana Cristina Souza, who started that match at the opposite position and then switched back to her original outside hitter role, was their most productive player with 26 points (23 kills, three blocks), surpassing the mark of 600 points in her VNL career.
"We were coming from a very difficult match against Japan, and we knew we had to be focused from the start today," she said. "Poland have a great team, and they improved a lot throughout the VNL. We had some struggles, but stuck together and helped each other to get the win, which was the most important thing."
Poland, which are now outside the qualification zone, ranking eighth with seven wins and 19 points, had star opposite Magdalena Stysiak as their top scorer with 20 points, all obtained in kills.
On Saturday, Brazil will play Thailand at 15:30 local time (6:30 GMT), and Japan will battle Türkiye at 19:20 (10:20 GMT) in Osaka.
In Hong Kong, back-to-back defending champions Italy sealed their qualification on Friday. The reigning Olympic and world champions faced 12th-placed Belgium after having the day off on Thursday and dominated, triumphing 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-19).
Star opposite Ekaterina Antropova carried their offense with a match-high 23 points (12 kills, six aces and five blocks) and a fantastic all-around performance.
"I thought we played a really good game," middle blocker Sarah Fahr, who scored 12 points (nine kills, three blocks), said. "We were expecting a really tough one, but our blocking and defense worked really and Kate (Antropova) played great and we're happy about it. Today it was a lot better than two days ago, and we're slowly improving as a team. I'm confident we'll do amazing in the Finals."
Fighting to avoid relegation, the Dominican Republic obtained what could be a key victory, taking down direct opponents Ukraine 3-2 (25-17, 25-16, 22-25, 19-25, 15-13) in a thriller. Team captain and outside hitter Brayelin Martinez was huge for the Caribbean, scoring 29 points with 21 kills, seven blocks and one ace.
With the result, the Dominicans left the bottom of the VNL standings and moved up to 15th place with two wins and eight points. The Ukrainians were among the teams passed by them and now rank 16th, with two wins and seven points.
Two key matches will take place in Hong Kong on Saturday, with Canada facing Italy at 16:30 local time (8:30 GMT) and China playing the Dominican Republic at 20:00 (12:00 GMT).
Pushing for a spot in the Finals, the Netherlands continued to play flawlessly in Belgrade and earned their third-straight three-set victory of the week on Friday, beating Germany 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-23). Outside hitter Jolien Knollema was their top scorer with 14 points (13 kills, one ace).
Germany vs. Netherlands - Highlights | Women's VNL 2026
The result boosted their chances of qualifying, taking the Europeans from eighth to fourth in the standings with seven wins and 21 points, while also taking Germany out of contention - they are 11th with four wins and 14 points.
Earlier, Czechia, which saw their hopes of qualifying come to an end on Thursday and rank tenth (five wins, 14 points), took down Bulgaria 3-1 (16-25, 25-12, 25-19, 25-14), with opposite Monika Brancuska delivering a whopping 30 points, all in kills.
The defeat complicated Bulgaria's situation in their fight to avoid relegation, as they now sit at the bottom of the VNL standings with two wins and five points and have only two matches left.
The action continues in Belgrade on Saturday, when Bulgaria face France at 16:30 local time (14:30 GMT) in what should be a key match in the battle against relegation and hosts Serbia battle Germany at 20:00 (18:00 GMT).
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