Japan 🇯🇵 vs Ukraine 🇺🇦 | Highlights | Men's VNL 2026

Japan vs Ukraine | Highlights | Men's VNL 2026. A straight-sets victory over Ukraine, the team that defeated them last year, marks a winning start to the season.

The first week of the qualifying round of the "Volleyball Nations League 2026" (VNL) was held in Linyi, China, starting on Wednesday, June 10th.

The Japanese men's volleyball team, ranked 7th in the FIVB world rankings (as of the start of the match), faced Ukraine, ranked 18th, on Wednesday, June 10th Japan time, and won in straight sets, 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-22), to start the season with a victory.

In the first set, the first point was scored by Ran Takahashi. Ukraine scored consecutive service aces, but Yuki Ishikawa scored a point after a dig by Hideomi Fukatsu to take a 5-4 lead. A service ace by Yuji Nishida and a quick attack by Larry Evadedan made it 16-12, prompting Ukraine to call a timeout. Japan maintained the lead until the end of the set, but Ukraine's powerful serves disrupted Japan's reception, allowing them to score consecutive points and putting them down 21-19, prompting Japan to call a timeout. Relief server Yuto Kai scored a point from a serve to secure set point, and Japan won the first set 25-22.

In the second set, Japan struggled to find their rhythm, allowing Ukraine to score several points in a row, and called a timeout when they fell behind 2-6. Several more timeouts followed, but Taishi Onodera made a block to make it 8-10. While trailing, Japan's serve reception gradually stabilized, and substitute Kento Miyaura made a block and two spikes to tie the score at 18-18. Miyaura continued his momentum, scoring consecutive points from his serve to take a 21-19 lead towards the end of the set, and ultimately winning the set 25-21.

In the third set, the game started evenly with both teams trading side-outs. Both teams displayed solid defense, but Ukraine scored a break point in the middle of the set, taking a 14-17 lead. At this point, Miyaura and Nagaro Motoki were brought in as a double substitution, and Evadedan's serve hit the net, tying the score at 17-17. Takahashi Ran's service ace made it 21-19. Miyaura's spike made it 22-20, and once again, they managed to turn the tables in the final stages, winning in straight sets with a set score of 3-0.

The Japanese men's national team will play their next match against Poland (ranked 1st) on Friday, June 12th at 9:00 PM Japan time. Please continue to support the Japanese men's national team.

Nishida Yuji said
, "I'm very happy that we won, but there were some slight discrepancies and areas where we need more days to work on our combinations. However, I think everyone covered for each other well and went for the win, and that's what led to today's victory. (Regarding my first VNL appearance in two years) I just had to do what I had to do, and there were many things I could have done better, but rather than forcing myself to keep pushing something and making errors, I was able to fulfill the team's top priority, so I want to raise the quality of each individual thing, but I think I was able to do what I could today. (Regarding future matches) I think things can only get better. If we compromise, the quality will only drop to that level, so I want everyone to be proactive and do their best. We don't think making mistakes is a bad thing, so we want to make mistakes in practice and then work together to make sure we succeed in matches. (Regarding the Poland match) The players are completely different, so we need to collect data and there may be little we can do, but we want to gradually increase what we can do and work together as a team to get a win."

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