37 to 39! Despite losing 1-3 to Poland, young players such as Yuto Kai and Yoshiho Takahashi showed great performances! [Men's Volleyball Nations League]

In the men's qualifying round of the Volleyball Nations League 2025 (China), the Japanese national team played against Poland on Thursday, June 12th local time and lost 1-3 (25-27, 22-25, 25-18, 37-39).

Starting Lineup

Japan

S Oya, OH Otsuka (8), MB Murayama (1), OP Miyaura (9), OH Tomita (2), MB Rally (4), L Ogawa

Substitutes: OH Kai (18), MB Nishimoto (8), OP Takahashi Kei (13), S Shimokawa, OH Yamazaki (7), MB Sato (6), L Fujinaka

Poland

OH Simla (14), MB Jakubishak (12), OP Nasevich (2), OH Gerjot (3), MB Novak (13), S Filray, L Havlirk

Substitutes: OH Sarupuk (16), OP Sasak (20), S Kozub, L Granieczny

Battle Review

First set: A huge comeback from 24-20

The game was close at the beginning, but OP Miyaura's spikes and other efforts gave Japan an advantage of 11-8. In the middle of the game, OH Otsuka scored with a spike from an aggressive serve to widen the gap to 16-11, and Poland continued to make mistakes, allowing Japan to get side-outs and take the set point at 24-20. However, Poland made five consecutive breaks from a serve by OP Sasak, who entered the match as a substitute, blocking OP Miyaura in succession, and took back the set point at 24-25 in a major comeback. Finally, OH Otsuka's spike was caught by a Polish block, and Poland took the set at 25-27.

Second set: Poland's blocks make it difficult for Germany

From this set, Japan replaced MB Murayama with MB Nishimoto from the start.

Poland took a 3-6 lead after making multiple breaks from blocks in the early stages. However, Japan turned the game around with three consecutive breaks, including a spike from OH Otsuka, to take the lead at 7-6. From there, it was a battle of points, with Japan scoring with MB Nishimoto and OP Miyaura, and Poland scoring with OP Sasak, to move forward at 16-16. However, Poland made two consecutive breaks from blocks to take a 16-19 lead, and continued to score with spikes and blocks, giving Poland a set point at 21-24. Finally, OH Otsuka made a wasteful set (toss) mistake, making it 22-25, and Poland won the match.

Third set: Unstoppable Kai, dynamic Keiho

Japan made significant changes to their lineup from this set, starting with OH Kai, OH Yamazaki, MB Sato, and L Fujinaka.

From the beginning, OH Kai's spikes and service aces put Japan ahead 5-2. After that, OH Kai and OP Takahashi Keiho continued to score, and in the middle of the game, OH Yamazaki's block put Japan at 15-10. In the final game, OH Kai's two consecutive service aces put Japan at 22-14. Poland narrowed the gap slightly to 24-18 with OH Szalbuk's spikes, but in the end, OP Takahashi Keiho scored a spike to win the set 25-18.

OH Kai was unrivaled in this set alone, scoring 9 points (3 of which were aces) with an attack success rate of 851 TP and 3T.

4th set: 11-18 to 37-39!

Poland started to score points due to Japan's attack mistakes and OH Szalbuk's blocks, leading 4-8. After that, S Shimokawa was brought in, but Poland continued to score points with OP Sasak's spikes and other efforts, widening the lead to 11-18. However, Japan gradually narrowed the gap to 14-18 with MB Sato's blocks and other efforts, and OH Yamazaki scored from OH Kai's serve to make it 20-22. Even so, Poland had a match point at 22-24, but first OP Takahashi Yoshiho's spike got a side out to make it 23-24, and then OP Takahashi Yoshiho blocked OH Szalbuk's spike to make it 24-24, and Japan tied the score at the last minute.

From there, Japan continued to trail by one point, but OH Kai scored a ball connected from OH Yamazaki's defense, and Japan took the lead at 27-26 and held the set point. Japan had seven chances for set point from here, but they were blocked by OH Szalbuk and others' spikes. After that, OP Takahashi Yoshiho's attack error put Poland in front again at 33-34. Japan hung on with OH Kai's spikes and others. However, in the end, OH Kai's pipe attack was blocked by OP Sasaku, and Poland won the set 37-39 and won the heated battle.

Match stats▼
https://vnlm.volleystation.com/en/matches/2227609/

personal MVP

OH Kai Yuto

18 points (15 attack, 3 serve), attack efficiency rate 461 TP 3T

From the third set, he took to the court as a starter, scoring a lot of points with his high and powerful spikes and serves, becoming the catalyst for Japan's comeback. He also showed a stable performance in his weak point, serve reception, without losing a single point, even though the opponent targeted him. Even if his serve reception was a little off or the toss was off the net, he smashed the ball in and scored points, just like a foreign player.

OP Kevin Sasak

20 points (attack 18, block 2), attack efficiency rate 481 TP 3T

He was the driving force behind the big comeback in the first set, and continued to perform stably thereafter, contributing greatly to the team's victory with 20 points. It was his block that closed out the long tiebreaker.

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Qualifying Round Rankings

As of 23:45 on June 12th (Thursday)

Next race information

June 13th (Friday) 18:00～ vs Serbia

How to watch

Here's how to watch VNL2025:

Related links

• Official tournament website (English)
• TBS tournament page (Japanese)

Photo: FIVB