2024 VNL May 18: France First Win, Canada Surpasses Netherlands

The penultimate day of week 1 in the 2024 Volleyball Nations League began with Poland securing a straight-set victory over the Netherlands (25-20, 26-24, 25-18). This defeat caused the Netherlands to lose 7.12 world ranking points, allowing Canada to overtake them in the FIVB Senior World Rankings for the last qualifying spot for Paris 2024 through the world ranking pathway.

The second match in Antalya featured VNL debutant France achieving their first victory of the competition by defeating Bulgaria in four sets (19-25, 25-21, 25-11, 29-27). This left Bulgaria winless at the end of week 1 with four losses.

In Pool 1’s final match of the day, Italy upset reigning VNL champions Türkiye in four sets (25-27, 25-21, 25-21, 25-19). Despite the loss, Turkish opposite Vargas notched an impressive 33 points.

Shifting to Pool 2 in Brasilia, the day started with China overcoming Serbia in four sets (21-25, 25-13, 25-18, 25-18). This victory concluded China’s week 1 campaign with a record of three wins and one loss.

The second match in Brasilia saw the Dominican Republic defeat South Korea in straight sets (25-13, 25-19, 25-20), improving their record to 2-1.

The final match of the day featured Canada defeating Thailand 3-1 (25-21, 25-13, 20-25, 25-17). Canadian outside hitter Van Ryk led the scoring with 22 points. This win, paired with the Netherlands’ earlier loss, allowed Canada to move ahead Netherlands by 8 points in the world rankings, now occupying the crucial last qualifying spot for Paris 2024.

(Featured image source: Volleyball World)

(Written by Boris CHUNG Bok Man)