Japan defeats Ukraine in full sets to advance to the final tournament [2025 Women's Volleyball World Championship]

The qualifying round for the 2025 Women's Volleyball World Championship (World Volleyball) was held on Monday, August 25th, with Japan, in Pool C, facing Ukraine.

In the first and second sets, Japan struggled to land attacks against Ukraine's tall blocks, while Ukraine scored points mainly through Milenko and Klaiduba to win the sets 25-27 and 20-25.

However, in the third set, Japan scored points thanks to a defense led by libero Kojima, who started the set from the beginning, and spikes from Wada and blocks from Ishikawa, who also started the set, and took the set back 25-20.

In the fourth set, Ukraine took the lead with Milenko's spikes and Meliushkina's blocks, but Japan continued to score, mainly through Ishikawa and Sato, to turn the game around in the middle of the set and win 26-24.

The fifth set was a close one from the beginning, but Japan took the lead in the middle of the match, scoring consecutive points from Sato's serve. From there, Japan continued to score with spikes from Ishikawa and other plays, and Yamada closed the set with a block to win 15-11.

Japan - Ukraine
3-2 (25-27, 20-25, 25-20, 26-24, 15-11)

Japan
Starting lineup: OH Ishikawa (29), MB Miyabe (1), OH Akimoto (5), OH Sato (24), MB Shimamura (10), S Seki (1), L Fukudome
Substitutes: L Kojima, MB Yamada (3), OH Wada (12), OH Iwasawa (0), S Nakagawa (0), OH Kitamado (0)

Ukraine
Starting lineup: S. Szarholotska (4), OH. Milenko (21), MB. Meliuszkina (19), OP. Artyshuk (1), OH. Pavlik (4), MB. Drusman (5), L. Niemtseva
Substitutes: S. Parfonova (0), OH Nuda (6), OH Kaplanska (0), OP Klaiduba (16), MB Kotar (0)

Match stats▼
https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/women-world-championship/schedule/22417/#teamstats

After the match, Japan's coach Akbaş said, "I would especially like to thank Wada and (Sato) Yoshino, as they fought very hard despite their injuries."

As a result, Japan won both of their preliminary round matches, and since Serbia, who were in the same pool, won the subsequent match while Cameroon and Ukraine both suffered two losses, Japan advanced to the final round.

The next match will be against Serbia on Wednesday, August 27th at 7:00 PM.

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Photo: Volleyball World