The victory made them surpass Thailand in the standings as both teams ended pool play with seven points, but the Dutch have three wins to their rivals’ two. Europeans and Asians will now need to wait until Wednesday to know their Round of 16 opponents on Friday – Serbia and Japan will play in Pool H, with the losers facing the Netherlands and the winners meeting Thailand.
2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship: full schedule and results
The other match of the pool reunited already eliminated Sweden and Egypt and the Europeans came out on top, winning 3-1 (25-18, 26-28, 25-20, 25-16) to end their first-ever World Championship appearance on a high.
Team captain and outside hitter Nika Daalderop had a critical role in the Dutch comeback, producing a match-high 26 points, with 20 kills and six blocks. Middle blocker Eline Timmerman contributed another 14, with ten kills, three aces and one block.
“It was a crazy match, with so many changes,” Timmerman remarked. “We played really well in the fourth set, but we knew the tie-breaker would be different. Fortunately, we remained calm at the end and did what we had to do to win. We don’t know who we’re going to play yet, but finishing first gives us a lot of confidence going into the elimination rounds.”
