The Europeans defeated Japan 3-1 and made it to the podium for a third-straight time
Polish players celebrate a point scored against the Japanese
Poland claimed bronze in the Volleyball Nations League for a third-straight time on Sunday, but the podium appearance felt extra special for the Europeans this time as they got to do it in front of their home fans, in Łódź, the host city of the VNL 2025 Finals.
Returning to the court at the Atlas Arena one day after they were swept by Olympic champions Italy in the semifinals, the Polish got the better of Japan, beating the Asians 3-1 (25-15, 24-26, 25-16, 25-23) and further consolidating themselves as a force in the tournament. The gold medal match will be decided by Italians and Brazilians, at 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT).
- Watch the Volleyball Nations League Finals live on VBTV
With the victory on Sunday’s bronze medal match in front of 10,000 fans in Łódź, the Polish became the sixth national team to get to three medals won in the first seven editions of the VNL, joining Brazil (silver in 2019, 2021 and 2022 and gold or silver in 2025), Italy (gold in 2022 and 2024 and gold or silver in 2025), the United States (gold in 2018, 2019 and 2021), Türkiye (gold in 2023, silver in 2018 and bronze in 2021) and China (silver in 2023 and bronze in 2018 and 2019).
“It’s fantastic for us to have won a medal here in Łódź and there’s a lot of emotions going on now,” head coach Stefano Lavarini reacted. “Since I started coaching Poland, every year we’ve played here and the atmosphere has always been fantastic, just like this week. I’m very happy that we got to thank our fans with a medal this time.”
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Star opposite Magdalena Stysiak led the Polish offense in the VNL bronze medal match, producing a match-high 18 points, with 16 kills and two blocks. Team captain and middle blocker Agnieszka Korneluk was also fantastic, combining an incredible eight blocks with eight kills to contribute 16 points. Outside hitters Martyna Czyrńianska and Martyna Łukasic also got to double digits in scoring, with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
“We didn’t play in the way we wanted in the last match, and that was really hard for us, so we were even more focused today,” libero Aleksandra Szczygłowska said. “I’m really happy that somehow, we overcame the situation and were able to win. We also did it for our fans, it’s incredible to play in front of them, I can’t even describe it. We’ll celebrate it now, but we know we still have a lot of work to do and many areas where we can improve.”
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Polish and Japanese ended the match even in kills (52) and aces (two), but the Europeans were vastly superior at blocking (15 to two) and also benefited from more opponent errors (30 to 24) to come out on top.
Japan had veteran middle blocker Haruyo Shimamura as their leading scorer in the bronze medal match, with 15 points (13 kills, two blocks). Team captain and outside hitter Mayu Ishikawa was next with 12, all in kills.
Volleyball Nations League 2025: full schedule and results
Polish and Japanese will now return to training and continue their preparations for the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship, which is going to be held in Thailand from August 22 to September 7.
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