VNL 2023: Japan to semifinals! Slovenia defeated in straight sets

2 min read

Another exciting game has been played in Gdańsk, Poland, a city that will be the stage for the FIRST semifinal in Japan volleyball national team in Nations League!
Playing at the Ergo Arena, the Asians won their quarterfinal game for the first time after a well-deserved 3-0 (26:24, 25:18, 25:22) victory over Slovenia that gave them the third spot in the semifinals of the fifth edition of the competition.
Japan, who had a fifth-place finish at the 2022 VNL as their best result in the tournament, are also one win away from claiming their first medal in an international event since their bronze in the 2009 FIVB Grand Champions Cup.

📸| PHOTOGALLERY OF THE MATCH

Captain Yuki Ishikawa was decisive in this match scoring as many as 27 points in just three sete, in what was the highest-scoring performance of the quarterfinals so far!
The 27-year-old star had an almost perfect performance with 22 points in attack, four winning blocks and one ace.
He was supported by opposite Yuji Nishida, the second-best Japanese scorer in the game with 12 points (all in attack), followed by outside hitter Ran Takahashi with 9.
Middle blocker Alen Pajenk with 11 kills and one block and team captain and outside hitter Tine Urnaut, 12 in attack, were the most prolific players for Slovenia, while outside hitter Rok Možič added another ten including two winning blocks.
The winners were absolutely better in attack, 54 to 41, but they also were slightly better in blocking (six to five) and from the service line (two to zero).

__________________

🏐| 2023 VOLLEYBALL NATIONS LEAGUE

— July 20, 2022 @ Gdansk 🇵🇱 —

👉🏼 QUARTERFINAL 3 | 17:00 (Local Time) | Japan (2) – Slovenia (7) 3-0 (26:24, 25:18, 25:22)
📸| PHOTOGALLERY OF THE MATCH

• QUARTERFINAL 4 | QUARTERFINAL 4 | 20:00 (Local Time) | Poland (3) – Brazil (6) 3-0 (26:24, 25:21, 25:20)
📸| PHOTOGALLERY OF THE MATCH

Played yesterday:

__________________

…NEXT MATCHES:

— July 22, 2022 @ Gdansk 🇵🇱 —

• SEMIFINAL 1 | 17:00 (Local Time) | Japan – Poland
• SEMIFINAL 2 | 20:00 (Local Time) | USA – Italy

__________________

👀|QUICK LINKS
• All International news 🗞️
• VNL 2023: NEWS
• VNL 2023: CALENDAR
• Multimedia
• Facebook
• Instagram