The leader in the world ranking Poland successfully defended its title in the Volleyball League of Nations after victory over USA with 3:2 (25:21, 23:25, 25:27, 25:23, 15:10) in the final, played in Ningbo, China, BTA reported.
The success in the competition is a record third for the leader in the world ranking and the second in a row after last year's triumph. Thus, Poland comes out on top in the League of Nations titles with three, and in addition to them it has one silver and three bronze medals. For its part, the USA stumbles on the last step of the tournament for the fourth time after silver medals in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
The Poles won the first game, with their opponents trailing by two points at 19:21, but were unable to reduce their deficit further. In the second half, after a 12:12 tie, the Americans initially led several times and their biggest lead was four points at 17:13, before the European team created a turnaround to 21:20, but ultimately allowed an equalizer in the overall score.
In the third game, the first most serious breakaway was at 19:15 for Poland, but in the end it came to a draw 25:25, and then the USA took two consecutive points and led 2:1 in the game.
The Americans were again in the role of catch-up throughout the fourth half, but at the most important moment they created a turnaround to take a 20:19 lead, which prompted a timeout by Poland's coach Nikola Grbic. The interruption had an impact on the game, and the Poles managed to send the match into a decisive fifth game.
In it, the Polish team was the first to take a two-point lead, leading 8:6. By the end of the final, the reigning champions took 5 consecutive points and built a lead of 13:7, and the Americans did not have the strength to catch up with them. With a match point for Poland at 14:10, the Americans sent the ball out and the match ended.
Kamil Semenyuk was the most productive for the European team with 17 points, Tomas Fornal added 15, and Wilfredo Leon scored 14.
For the USA, Jake Haynes was the best with 21 points, Matthew Anderson contributed with 19, and Merrick McHenry scored 14.
With their success in the third-place match, the Slovenian team won their first medal in the Nations League, beating Japan 3:1 (25:21, 26:28, 25:22, 25:22), stopping the Asians on their way to a third medal of the competition.
The European team made more unforced errors than their opponent in the match, 33 to 23. but compensated for this with a strong offense with 62-52 successful attacks, as well as a better defense with 10 to 5 successful blocks.
Nik Mujanovic with 24 points and Rok Možić with 23 led Slovenia to victory, while the experienced Jan Kozamernik contributed with 10 points. Central blocker Ran Takahashi was the most productive for Japan with 20 points, while diagonal Yuji Nishida finished with 10.
„Yesterday, my roommate Jan Kozamernik and I saw that in the direct matches Japan was leading us with 8:3 wins, and in the last matches even with 7:0. However, I had the feeling that we could do it, because in this Nations League we showed something really incredible. I am so happy! This team fully deserves this," said Rok Možić after the success.