With 11 kill blocks from Meliushkyna, Ukraine stop just short of stunning the mighty opponent
Japan’s Yoshino Sato tries to spike past Diana Meliushkyna’s block
Ukraine shocked Japan by opening a two-set lead in the Pool H game at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Thailand. The mighty Asian side, however, mounted a huge comeback to achieve a reverse sweep, their second win in Bangkok. Japan lead the current pool standings on a 2-0 win-loss record and five points. Ukraine have two defeats on their record so far, but still hold a distant shot at making it to the next round.
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It was the much more prolific attack that carried Japan on the way to a 3-2 (25-27, 20-25, 25-20, 26-24, 15-11) victory, but the match winner came from a monster block by middle Nichika Yamada. The Asians produced as many as 74 kills in offense, while their European opponents tallied only 57.
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Outside hitter and captain Mayu Ishikawa contributed a match-high 29 points towards Japan’s win. She led the team in both swinging with 26 successful spikes and blocking with three kill blocks. Her cross-court teammate Yoshino Sato delivered one ace and one kill block to finish with 24 points. Opposite Yukiko Wada chipped in with 12 points, while middle Haruyo Shimamura added another 10.
“I want to thank those players that are injured, but are fighting so hard. In my opinion, we deserved this comeback,” Japan’s Turkish head coach Ferhat Akbas told VBTV. “It was so tough, but great! In this kind of a tournament, when you have this kind of opportunities, it is actually even better sometimes. So, we will take our lesson and we need to work for the next matches.”
Ukraine made fewer unforced errors than Japan, but managed to outperform them most substantially in blocking, with 16 kill blocks against eight. Their middle Diana Meliushkyna authored a remarkable 11 of those and added eight points in attack to finish with a total of 19. Opposite Anastasiia Kraiduba put away 16 points, while outside Oleksandra Milenko emerged as the team’s most prolific scorer with 21 points to her name.
If Serbia defeat Cameroon in the next Pool H match, starting shortly at 20:30 local time (13:30 UTC), both Japan and Serbia will qualify for the eighthfinals.
2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship: full schedule and results
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