2026 VNL Jun 20: Relegation Battle Intensifies as Three Teams Pull Upsets

Week 2 of VNL 2026 delivered its most dramatic day yet, with three major upsets reshaping both the top and bottom of the standings. USA stunned Italy, Dominican Republic claimed their first win and handed Japan their first loss, and Thailand boosted their relegation survival hopes with a victory over Canada.

Pool 5 (Pasig, Philippines)

The day started in Pasig, where USA stunned Italy in straight sets (27-25, 25-20, 25-16) to improve their record to 6-1. Italy’s record dropped to 5-2. The match also allowed USA to gain a massive 16.88 world ranking points from Italy. In a post-match interview with VBTV, Italy head coach Julio Velasco said the match could be a learning opportunity, noting that his team was rigid with their blocking and had problems in attack, especially in position four. USA head coach Erik Sullivan said his team did well from the service line, which set the tone and got Italy off the net, allowing them to convert opportunities.

The next match in Pasig saw another upset, as Dominican Republic defeated Japan 3-1 (17-25, 25-20, 28-26, 25-23). This was not only Dominican Republic’s first win of VNL 2026, but also Japan’s first loss after winning all six previous matches. Dominican Republic gained a huge 14.26 world ranking points from the Asian side. The win left no teams winless in the tournament and allowed the Dominicans to escape the relegation zone by the end of the matchday, as they now have the same number of victories as Bulgaria and France but with one more point, intensifying the battle at the bottom of the table.

Pool 6 (Bangkok, Thailand)

In Bangkok, the first match of the day saw Poland defeat the Netherlands in four sets (25-17, 25-17, 14-25, 25-23) to improve their record to 6-1. The Netherlands dropped to 3-4. In a post-match interview with VBTV, Poland coach Stefano Lavarini admitted that his team repeated a pattern in set three, dropping their level after one or two sets of good quality. In the fourth set, he focused on how to score because the Netherlands does not give away points for free. His team regained confidence in attack and applied pressure in service and defense like they had in the first two sets.

In the second match of the day, host Thailand upset Canada 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-18, 25-20) to secure their second win of the tournament. Canada’s record dropped to 4-3. This was a huge win for Thailand in the relegation battle. After losing to Ukraine in their fifth match, they were winless after five games. However, the win against Bulgaria on June 18 and today’s victory over Canada moved them up to 13th place in the standings, one win above the bottom three teams (Dominican Republic, France and Bulgaria), all with one win. With a difficult Week 3 schedule against top teams (USA, Japan, Brazil and Türkiye), securing this win puts Thailand in a much more comfortable position.

Pool 4 (Ankara, Türkiye)

Moving to Pool 4, the first match of the day saw Brazil extend their perfect record to seven matches after defeating China 3-1 (26-24, 25-18, 19-25, 25-15). China’s record dropped to 5-2. Brazil remains the only unbeaten team after seven matches, following Japan’s loss to Dominican Republic earlier in Pasig. In a post-match interview with VBTV, China head coach Zhao Yong admitted that his team’s overall level is currently unable to match Brazil, even though the players gave everything on the court. He also said that the team needs to strengthen their confidence and improve their active scoring ability.

In the final match of the day, Türkiye came back from two sets down to defeat Germany 3-2 (18-25, 24-26, 25-19, 25-22, 15-13) in front of the home crowd in Ankara. Melissa Vargas scored a mammoth 32 points for the hosts to help complete the comeback. This was also Vargas’ third consecutive match as top scorer since joining the team in Week 2.

(Featured image source: Volleyball World)

(Written by Boris CHUNG Bok Man)