VNL 2023: Nishida led Pool 2 hosts Japan to second win in as many games

2 min read

Pool 2 Hosts Japan, in Nagoya, celebrated their second victory of Volleyball Nations League 2023.
Opposite Yuji Nishida played an excellent match and lead his teammates to a 3-1 (22:25, 25:21, 25:23, 25:20) convincing win over Serbia, which lifted the Asian team to the third place in the current standings on a perfect 2-0 win-loss record and six points, while their European rivals dropped to ninth on 1-2 and three.
With a 69% success rate, Nishida scored 24 points including 1 winning block and 1 ace, well supported by a brilliant performance from setter Masahiro Sekita, and outside hitters Ran Takahashi and captain Yuki Ishikawa who also reached the double digits with 15 and 17 points, respectively.
Outside hitter Pavle Peric was Serbia’s most prolific player with 22 points including four blocks and an ace, while opposite and captain Drazen Luburic added 17 points and outside hitter Miran Kujundzic ended the game with 10.

“To win as a team is the most important thing here. Serbia have very tall blockers, so our hitters had to be very efficient in attack. We are happy to have pleased our fans with two wins already here in Nagoya,” said Masahiro Sekita after the game.

On Saturday at 19:10 local time, Japan will face Bulgaria, while Serbia’s last match in Nagoya is against Poland on Sunday at 15:40.

__________________

🏐| 2023 VOLLEYBALL NATIONS LEAGUE

— June 09, 2023 —

Pool 1 – Week 1 – Ottawa 🇨🇦
• 20:00 (Local Time) | Argentina – Brazil 2-3 (25:19, 19:25, 25:23, 23:25, 13:15)
• 11:00 (Local Time) | The Netherlands – Germany 3-0 (25:20, 33:31, 25:21)
• 16:30 (Local Time) | Italy – Cuba 3-1 (25:20, 25:19, 20:25, 25:18)

Pool 2 – Week 1 – Nagoya 🇯🇵
• 13:10 (Local Time) | China – France 1-3 (20:25, 25:23, 16:25, 17:25)
• 16:10 (Local Time) | Poland – Bulgaria 3-2 (25:27, 25:19, 22:25, 25:22, 15:11)

👉🏼 19:40 (Local Time) | Japan – Serbia 3-1 (22:25, 25:21, 25:23, 25:20)

__________________

🏐| STANDINGS (updated on this day):
1. Poland 7
2. USA 6
3. Japan 6
4. Brazil 5
5. Bulgaria 5
6. Argentina 4
7. Serbia 3
8. France 3
9. The Netherlands 3
10. Slovenia 3
11. Canada 2
12. China 2
13. Cuba 1
14. Iran 1
15. Germany 0
16. Italy 0
__________________