2026 VNL Jun 5: Two Five Setters Headline Day 3 Action

On the third day of VNL 2026, six matches continued to deliver excitement to fans, with two matches ending in a tiebreaker set.

Pool 3 (Nanjing, China)

The third day’s action began in Nanjing, where Czechia swept Belgium in straight sets (25-20, 25-22, 25-15). In a post-match interview with VBTV, Czechia outside hitter and top scorer of the match Helena Grozer expressed happiness for the win after the previous day’s straight set loss against Poland, which she thought they could have done better and they did not. On this day, she said they gave everything, pushed everyone, and everyone played amazing. She added that she is very proud of her team as the oldest team member.

The second match of the day saw Poland edge past Serbia in a five set thriller (17-25, 25-19, 25-18, 22-25, 17-15). Polish opposite Julia Szczurowska was the star of the match, scoring an impressive 35 points for her side, which was the highest scoring by any player in a single match in VNL 2026 so far. Despite the loss, Serbia outplayed Poland in blocking, having scored 20 block points in the match compared to 10 by Poland, yet it was still not enough for a win.

Pool 2 (Brasilia, Brazil)

Over to Pool 2 in Brasilia, Bulgaria dominated the Dominican Republic in straight sets (25-19, 25-19, 25-13). Bulgarian opposite Mikaela Stoyanova led the scoring with 21 points for the European side. In a post-match interview with VBTV, the top scorer expressed satisfaction with the team’s performance and happiness that they managed to bounce back from the previous day’s loss. She said today they showed they can, that every match is different, and every new day is a new day.

In the second match of the day in Brasilia, Italy swept the Netherlands in straight sets (25-22, 25-18, 25-22) to extend their winning streak across all competitions since the 2024 VNL to 38 straight wins. In a post-match interview with VBTV, Italy head coach Julio Velasco said they played a very big match and attack was very important for them. He noted they had some problems with reception with Antropova but only in the first set, and that was because she never received before since she previously played as an opposite. He also praised the setter’s performance. Velasco added that the Netherlands played fast and defended well on the day, but Italy’s blocking pushed them into making some mistakes.

Pool 1 (Quebec City, Canada)

In Pool 1 in Quebec City, the day started with Japan’s 3-1 win against Ukraine (25-20, 16-25, 25-16, 25-20) to make it two wins in two. In a post-match interview with VBTV, Japan head coach Ferhat Akbaş expressed happiness with the players who came off the bench for supporting the team in the best way possible. He said they needed them because in the second set the team’s energy was a bit low, but they were able to come back.

In the final match of the day, USA defeated France in a tightly contested five set match (25-21, 23-25, 27-25, 23-25, 15-11) to secure their second win in three matches. In a post-match interview with VBTV, USA head coach Erik Sullivan acknowledged that every night in the VNL is going to be closely contested like today because the teams that were a little bit lower last year are improving, the teams in the middle are also getting better, and the teams at the top are great. He also expressed pride in his team’s grit, noting that there were some sets that did not go their way in the match but they did not get down. He pointed out that in the fourth set they were down a couple of points but they battled back even though they did not win it.

(Featured image source: Volleyball World)

(Written by Boris CHUNG Bok Man)