USA complete VNL Finals lineup

USA booked the last available ticket to the women’s Volleyball Nations League Finals in Lodz. In Friday’s closing VNL match in Arlington, they outlasted Canada in a dramatic five-set battle and secured their place among the last eight in the competition. The two sets won were sufficient for Canada to secure their survival in the VNL for next season. Not so for Korea, who lost Sunday’s opening match in Chiba to France in straight sets to keep the relegation question open until Thailand’s game against Canada later on Sunday.

On a 2-9 win-loss record, 8 points and 16-31 in sets, Canada are 16^th in the current VNL standings and can no longer be overtaken by bottom-placed Thailand, who are on 1-10, 5 and 9-31, even with a straight-set sweep. The Thais can, however, surpass Korea, who are now done on 1-11 and 5, and winning two sets against Canada would suffice. Meanwhile, USA improved to 7-4 and 19 and overtook Germany into the seventh place. France finished the season on 5-7 and 17 and climbed to ninth place before the remaining games of the last competition day.

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In a hard-fought rollercoaster, USA squeezed out a nail-biting 3-2 (26-24, 23-25, 20-25, 25-21, 19-17) victory in the overtime of the tie-breaker against Canada. Each of the sets was a mini rollercoaster, in which the lead went back and forth, but the fifth set was particularly dramatic as Canada fought back from a four-point deficit to reach a double match point at 14-12. The Americans denied it to level the score, and then denied another three Canadian opportunities to close the match, before making the final push with three points in row to the delight of the home fans in Arlington.

The winners were led by outside hitter Avery Skinner with 21 points, including one kill block. Opposite Madisen Skinner (two aces, one block) and outside Logan Eggleston (two blocks) contributed 19 points each, while middle blockers Tia Jimerson (six blocks) and Dana Rettke (three blocks) finished with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Canada’s tremendous blocking effort, which produced a fantastic 24 kill blocks, stopped short of bringing them to victory in this North American derby. 21-year-old opposite Anna Smrek authored six of those and added two aces to finish with 13 points, while middle Emily Maglio raised five stuffs and scored one ace to finish with 12 points. Outside Hilary Howe Johnson delivered a match-high 29 points, including four kill blocks. Another four came from middle and captain Jazmine Ruth White towards a 10-point individual tally. The other outside, Andrea Mitrovic, also reached the double digits with 11 points.

Shortly after the competition day was finished in Arlington, the new competition day got underway in Chiba. France hammered out an emphatic 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-21) shutout of Korea with a game-high 17 points from outside Sabine Haewegene, including two aces and a kill block. Opposite Iman Ndiaye fired three aces and put up two kill blocks to finish with 16 points. The other outside, captain Helena Cazaute produced 11 points, while 22-year-old middle Naomi Ngolongolo authored five of France’s 10 kill blocks in the match. Outside Seoyoung Yuk was the only player to reach the double digits on the Korean side, as she scored one point in blocking and nine in swinging.

The second match of the day in Chiba, between Bulgaria and Poland, is already underway. Next, Japan will close their home tournament with a big game against Brazil, starting at 19:20 local time (10:20 UTC). What will probably be the most anticipated match of the day, between Thailand and Canada in Arlington, will serve off at 15:00 local time (20:00 UTC).

Volleyball Nations League 2025: full schedule and results

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