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Article wrote by Danilo from Osaka for Volleytimes, please respect his job.
The third (and last) competition week of the Preliminary Phase in the Volleyball Nations League 2026 continued today with three cities across the world β Osaka in Japan, Belgrade in Serbia and Chicago in the United States β hosting a total of 36 matches, which will finalize the standings as well as the top seven teams to the quarterfinals in Nigbo along with hosts China.
Each of the 18 participating teams will play another four games this week, while the match schedule in each of the three pools features three games on Wednesday, two each on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and another three on Sunday.
After a tie break defeat against hosts Japan in their debut in Osaka, World champion Italy achieved a convincing 0-3 (20:25, 22:25, 22:25) victory over Belgium.
The success was the sixth for Ferdinando De Giorgiβs team, which now has 20 points in the standings, while Belgium remains in 14th position for now with 3 wins and 9 points.
The Italians controlled the entire match and did not allow their opponent to put them under serious pressure. Only in the third set the Belgians manage to stay in contention until 22:22, but in the decisive rallies, Italy showed greater resilience to close the match in three sets.
The most effective player for the winners was middle blocker Pardo Mati with 13 points to his name, while Yuri Romano added 12, and Mattia Bottolo also contributed with 11.
For Belgium, Ferre Reggers finished with 14 points, closely followed by Simon Plaskie with 13.
In their next two matches, Italy will face Argentina and Cuba, and successes will be crucial for qualification for the Final Eigh in Macao, China.
In second and last match of the day, Japan book Finals spot with yet another five-set win, 3-2 (18:25, 24:26, 29:27, 25:19, 15:11), and Ishikawa hits 1000 VNL spike kills mark!
Canada, on the other hand, suffer seventh (!) tie-break loss in the competition.
Japan stay undefeated to the top of the current standings after reverse-sweeping their game to collect 10 victories in 10 matches played, with as many as six of them achieved in fifth sets.
During the first set of the match with the North Americans, Japanβs outside hitter and captain Yuki Ishikawa, the best spiker in the history of the VNL, reached a remarkable milestone, passing the 1,000 career VNL attack points mark, and he did it in front of 7,377 fans in the stands!
The ending of the third set was particularly dramatic, with the North American side failing to capitalize on a 22-19 lead to close the match. Instead, Japan, inspired by their fantastic fans, caught up, took over the lead to push the set to overtime and eventually win it on their fifth set point.
Tatsunori Otsuka, who emerged as the top scorer of the match, left the court with 18 points to his name, while Opposite Kento Miyaura, outside hitter Shoma Tomita and middle blocker Larry Ik Evbade-Dan added 15, 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Canada outperformed Japan in net defense by 16-5 in blocks, with their middle Jackson Howe who put up five towards a total of 17 points, while outside hitter Jackson Young raised another five towards a match-high 21 points.
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π| FIVB Volleyball Nations League 2026 | Games of the day
β Thursday | July 16, 2026β
ππΌ Pool 9 β Week 3 β Osaka π―π΅
β’ 15.30 (Local Time) | Belgium β Italy 0-3 (20:25, 22:25, 22:25)
β’ 19.20 (Local Time) | Japan β Canada 3-2 (18:25, 24:26, 29:27, 25:19, 15:11)
| Pool 7 β Week 3 β Belgrade π·πΈ
β’ 16.30 (Local Time) | Iran β Germany 3-2 (25:22, 26:28, 18:25, 25:20, 15:12)
β’ 20.00 (Local Time) | Serbia β Ukraine 3-1 (22:25, 25:17, 25:21, 25:23)
| Pool 8 β Week 3 β Chicago πΊπΈ
β’ 16.00 (Local Time) | China β France 0-3 (21:25, 19:25, 20:25)
β’ 20.00 (Local Time) | USA β Brazil 3-0 (25:23, 25:19, 25:18)
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π| STANDINGS (updated on this day)
1. Japan 24
2. USA 25
3. Poland 20
4. Italy 20
5. Ukraine 19
6. Slovenia 17
7. TΓΌrkiye 17
8. Brazil 16
9. Serbia 15
10. Bulgaria 14
11. France 13
12. Germany 13
13. Iran 11
14. Canada 10
15. Argentina 9
16. Belgium 9
17. Cuba 5
18. China 4
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π| NEXT GAMES
β Friday | July 17, 2026β
| Pool 9 β Week 3 β Osaka π―π΅
β’ 13.00 (Local Time) | Cuba β Argentina
β’ 19.20 (Local Time) | Japan β Belgium
| Pool 7 β Week 3 β Belgrade π·πΈ
β’ 16.30 (Local Time) | TΓΌrkiye β Ukraine
β’ 20.00 (Local Time) | Iran β Slovenia
| Pool 8 β Week 3 β Chicago πΊπΈ
β’ 16.00 (Local Time) | China β Bulgaria
β’ 20.00 (Local Time) | Brazil β Poland
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