In the women's Volleyball Nations League 2025 final round (Poland), Japan faced Poland in the third place match on Sunday, July 27th and lost 1-3 (15-25, 26-24, 16-25, 23-25).
As a result, Japan finished the tournament in fourth place.
Participating members
Japan
Starting line-up: OH Ishikawa (12), MB Miyabe (5), OP Wada (8), OH Sato (8), MB Shimamura (15), S Seki (2), L Kojima/Fukudome
Substitutes: MB Yamada (0), S Nakagawa (0), OH Kitamado (0), OH Akimoto (6)
Poland
Starting line-up: S. Wenelska (1), OH Cirniainska (12), MB Korneluk (16), OP Stysiak (18), OH Łukaszyk (11), MB Jurczyk (9), L. Szczygłowska
Substitutes: OP Smajek (2), OH Wisiak (0), S Grabka (0).
Match Report
In the first set, Poland scored many points mainly through spikes from OP Stysiak, while Japan struggled to score attacks due to a total of five Polish blocks and Japan's own mistakes, and Poland dominated the game from start to finish, losing the set by a large margin of 15-25.
In the second set, Japan's serve was strong and they took a 7-2 lead in the early stages, with an ace from MB Miyabe. Poland showed tenacity with attacks led by OH Cirniainska, but Japan also scored points with spikes from MB Shimamura and OH Sato, and finally won 26-24 with a service ace from S Seki.
The third set played out in a similar manner to the first, with Japan's attack success rate slowing due to mistakes, while Poland scored points with spikes from OH Lukaszyk and blocks from MB Korneluk, taking the set comfortably 16-25.
In the fourth set, Japan was trailing Poland 1-5 at the start, but they managed to catch up to 12-12 thanks to MB Shimamura's blocks and quick plays and OH Ishikawa's spikes. The game continued to be close, but Poland continued to score points, mainly from OP Stysiak and MB Korneluk, and won 23-25. As a result, Japan lost to Poland 1-3.
Match stats▼
https://vnlw.volleystation.com/en/matches/2227597/
personal MVP
Haruyo Shimamura
Middle Blocker
15 points (13 attacks, 2 blocks)
Attack Effectiveness Rate 42%
The middle blocker who scored the most points on the team. While the three side attackers Ishikawa, Sato, and Wada struggled with their attacks, he scored a lot of points with quick and broad shots. Although they lost, Japan's middle blockers proved that they can fight against strong opponents. Veteran John's evolution is unstoppable. He was really cool.
Agnieszka Korneluk
Middle Blocker
16 points (8 attacks, 8 blocks)
Attack Effectiveness Rate 38%
The Polish wall once again stood in front of Japan. Of Poland's total of 15 blocks, more than half, 8, were by her. In this match in particular, she was able to stop attacks from the side.
OH Cirniainska was also targeted by Japan's serves but remained unfazed, causing Japan a lot of trouble with her powerful spikes.
Toshiki's comment
This was a disappointing defeat following the match against Brazil, and Japan missed out on winning a medal for the second consecutive tournament.
It was probably inevitable that Poland would block to a certain extent, but what was even more surprising in this match was that they conceded a total of 16 points due to attacking mistakes, which was the main reason for their defeat.
All three of the side attackers, Ishikawa, Sato, and Wada, made more mistakes than usual, and the team struggled, lacking decisive power in their side attacks and high balls.
In addition to the pressure from the opponent's block, they were likely feeling tired as the match came less than 24 hours after a fierce full-set battle with Brazil.
As usual, we were able to pick up the opponent's serves and spikes well, so it was frustrating not to be able to score on our attacks.
On the other hand, I think the fact that the aforementioned middle blocker Shimamura was able to score a large number of points thanks to his outstanding performance was a huge asset for the Japanese team, which has long been criticized for its weakness in attacking from the middle.
Also, Akimoto, who was substituted in for the second player, had a very high attack success rate, which was good. Personally, I think it might have been good to try letting her play longer in the third or fourth set.
Anyway, unfortunately we lost and were unable to win a medal, but it is very positive that the new team was able to finish in 4th place in their first Nations League tournament, and watching each game I think the Japan Women's National Team has truly been reborn in a good way.
Aggressive serves, spikes that can score from anywhere, and their specialty, solid defense. They are a really strong and fun team to watch.
Coach Akbash's actions on the side of the court (and sometimes on the court) are also very entertaining.
I believe this team still has room to grow, so I hope they will take some time off and then repay this debt at next month's World Championships.
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Related links
Photo: FIVB
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