The qualifying round for the 2025 Women's Volleyball World Championship (World Volleyball) was held on Wednesday, August 27th, with Japan facing Serbia in Pool H.
In the first set, Japan opened up an 8-3 lead early on with attacks from Ishikawa and Wada, and continued to score steadily to take the lead to 20-15. From there, Serbia scored six consecutive points to tie the score at 22-22, but Japan took the lead 25-23 with a break from Sato's serve.
The second set was a back-and-forth battle, with Japan scoring points from Wada and Sato, and Serbia from Uzelac and Bukilic, and the match went to deuce with Japan trailing, and in the end, Japan took the lead 30-28 with consecutive points from Wada's service ace and spike.
In the third set, Serbia took the lead with attacks from Uzerac, and continued to score points with Uzerac at the helm. Japan's Sato and others tried their best, but they were unable to catch up, and Serbia took the set 23-25.
In the fourth set, Japan took an early lead of 10-6 with a service ace from Ishikawa, and continued to score with attacks from Ishikawa and Shimamura. In the end, Japan's blocks were successful, and they won the set 25-18, defeating Serbia 3-1.
日本 - セルビア
3-1 (25-23, 30-28, 23-25, 25-18)
Japan
Starting lineup: OH Ishikawa (19), MB Miyabe (7), OH Wada (15), OH Sato (13), MB Shimamura (8), S Seki (4), L Kojima
Substitutes: OH Iwasawa (0), S Nakagawa (0), OH Kitamado (0), OH Akimoto (3)
Serbia
Starting line-up: S. Mirkovic (2), OH Uzelac (20), MB Kurtagic (9), OP Vukilic (10), OH Ivanovic (9), MB Aleksic (11), L. Jegdic
Substitutes: OH Danguvic (1), OH Milenkovic (0), Miljevic (0)
Match stats▼
https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/women-world-championship/schedule/22433/#teamstats
As a result, Japan won all three matches in the qualifying round and advanced to the top of Pool H.
The next match will be against Thailand on Friday, August 29th at 10:30pm.
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Photo: Volleyball World
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