In the Women's Qualifying Round of the Volleyball Nations League 2025 (Canada), the Japanese national team played against Serbia on Friday, June 6th (local time) and won 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-13).
Starting Lineup
Japan
S Seki (2), OH Ishikawa (10), MB Miyabe (3), OP Wada (17), OH Sato (14), MB Shimamura (5), L Kojima
Substitutes: MB Yamada, S Nakagawa, OH Fukazawa, OP Akimoto (1)
Serbia
OH Danguvic (4), MB Osmakic, S Mirkovic, OH Uzerac (7), MB Kurtagic (10), OP Vukilic (12), L Jegdic
Substitutes: MB Kirov, S Perović, OH Mijatović (1), OH Ivanovic (7).
Battle Review
Japan, who played with the same members as in the Netherlands match, took the lead in this match with their aggressive serves. Although they only had two service aces compared to the previous match, they continued to put pressure on their opponents with their serves, mainly from OH Sato.
With this serve and a strong defense centered around L. Kojima, Serbia had difficulty scoring attacks and made many mistakes.
Japan also struggled at times with Serbia's serve and blocks, conceding seven block points, especially to the tall MB Kurtagic.
However, even when the ball was high, OP Wada and OH Sato made strong spikes. OP Wada in particular showed his presence with 17 points, the most for both teams. MB Shimamura's slide attack was also effective.
At the end of the second set, Japan allowed four consecutive points after taking set point, but apart from that, Japan continued to take control of the match against Serbia, which was made up mainly of young players, and won in straight sets.
Match stats:https://vnlw.volleystation.com/en/matches/2227502/
personal MVP
OP Yukiko Wada
17 points (attack 16, serve 1), attack efficiency rate 411 TP 3T
He was the top scorer in this match. He contributed to the victory by scoring powerful spikes mainly from the right side. Although he is 174cm tall, he was not intimidated by the high block of Serbia, which is made up of players around 190cm tall, and he boldly smashed the ball into the goal even in difficult high ball situations. In the SV League, he was often a reserve for the foreign player OP Dasilva, but this player may shine even more on the national team.
Qualifying Round Rankings
As of 15:00 on Saturday, June 7th
| Ranking | Country | Number of wins | Points | Set rate | Scoring percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italy | 3 | 8 | 4.500 | 1.463 |
| 2 | Japan | 2 | 6 | MAX | 1.485 |
| 3 | Brazil | 2 | 6 | MAX | 1.339 |
| 4 | Türkiye | 2 | 6 | 6.000 | 1.351 |
| 5 | Poland | 2 | 6 | 6.000 | 1.103 |
| 6 | dominican republic | 2 | 4 | 1.000 | 1.009 |
| 7 | Germany | 1 | 4 | 1.666 | 0.981 |
| 8 | Bulgaria | 1 | 4 | 1.250 | 0.937 |
| 9 | Netherlands | 1 | 4 | 0.714 | 0.944 |
| 10 | China | 1 | 3 | 1.333 | 1.086 |
| 11 | France | 1 | 3 | 1.000 | 0.887 |
| 12 | Belgium | 1 | 3 | 0.571 | 0.906 |
| 13 | Canada | 1 | 2 | 0.800 | 1.038 |
| 14 | Czech Republic | 1 | 2 | 0.600 | 0.951 |
| 15 | Serbia | 0 | 1 | 0.333 | 0.835 |
| 16 | America | 0 | 1 | 0.222 | 0.800 |
| 17 | Thailand | 0 | 0 | 0.111 | 0.880 |
| 18 | South Korea | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.640 |
Next race information
June 8th (Sun) 5:00am Japan time vs Canada
How to watch VNL
Here's how to watch VNL2025:
Related links
Photo: FIVB
English 
Japanese