In the third week of the men's qualifying round of the Volleyball Nations League 2025 (Chiba, Japan), the Japanese national team faced Argentina on Thursday, July 17th (local time) and won 3-2 (23-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 15-13).
In the first set, Japan scored mainly through OH Takahashi Ai, but Argentina won 23-25 thanks to OH Almor's powerful spikes and blocks. Argentina also won the second set 23-25 thanks to MB Rosell's blocks and OP Lima's spikes.
In the third set, Japan brought in S Nagatsuyu and L Ogawa, and OP Miyaura scored 10 points in this set alone to take the game back 25-21. In the fourth set, OH Takahashi Ai's spikes and other points continued to pile up, and in the final stages, OH Kai and OH Takahashi Ai's service aces helped Japan win the close match 25-23.
In the fifth set, Japan scored points mainly through spikes from OH Tomita and OP Miyaura, and in the end, a serve error from Argentina resulted in Japan winning the set 15-13 and winning 3-2.
The top scorer was opposite Miyaura Kento, who scored 23 points.
With this, Japan now has a total of 7 wins, 3 losses and 20 points in the qualifying rounds, placing them in provisional 4th place.
The next match will be against Brazil on Friday the 18th at 7:20pm.
Participants and scores
Starting lineup: OP Miyaura (23), OH Takahashi Ai (16), MB Onodera (6), S Oya, OH Ishikawa (13), MB Sato (8), L Yamamoto
Substitutes: OH Tomita (4), OP Nishiyama (3), S Nagatsuyu, L Ogawa, OH Kai (1)
Match stats (English)▼
https://vnlm.volleystation.com/en/matches/2227682/
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Photo: FIVB
English 
Japanese