2023 VNL Jun 29: Poland and Türkiye Qualified to the Finals

The third day of week 3 in VNL 2023 saw six thrilling matches take place in Bangkok and Suwon, as teams fought for a spot in the finals and world ranking points.

In Suwon, South Korea, Poland was the first team to secure a spot in the finals with a hard-fought five-set victory (15-25, 25-19, 25-19, 19-25, 17-15) over Germany. With an 8-2 win-loss record and 23 points, Poland qualified for the finals alongside hosts USA. Meanwhile, Germany remained with 7 wins after 10 games.

The second match in Suwon saw USA won their match against Bulgaria 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-17), becoming the first team to win 9 matches in the tournament.

Later in the day, Dominican Republic won in straight sets against South Korea in the final match of the day (25-18, 25-18, 25-16), upsetting the home fans. South Korea is yet to win a match in the tournament after playing ten games.

In Bangkok, Thailand, Netherlands won their fourth game of the tournament with a 3-0 victory (25-20, 25-11, 25-15) over Croatia, who are currently in the relegation zone with 2 wins and 6 points. Croatia will play Italy and Türkiye in their remaining two games.

In another match, Canada recorded a crucial upset win against Brazil with a 3-2 scoreline (28-30, 25-22, 25-23, 21-25, 17-15). This win improved Canada’s record to 5 wins in 10 games and allowed them to move above Italy to the 8th place in the leaderboard, which has the same number of victories but one more game in hand.

In the last match of the day in Bangkok, Türkiye had a 3-0 victory over Thailand (25-15, 25-15, 25-20), and became the third team to secure a place in the finals with 7 wins and 23 points in 10 matches.

(Written by Boris CHUNG Bok Man)