Video Discription |
JAPAN vs SLOVENIA | Semi Finals Highlights | Men's VNL 2024. Japan Men's National Team secures medal in second consecutive Nations League tournament, advances to finals following women's team!
The men's semi-final of the Volleyball Nations League 2024 was held on Saturday, June 29th in Lodz (Poland).
The Japanese men's national team, ranked 2nd in the FIVB world rankings (before the match started), faced Slovenia, ranked 3rd, and won with a set score of 3-0 (25-21, 27-25, 31-29). This is the first time that the Japanese men's national team has won a medal in the Nations League, following their bronze medal last year, and it is the first time in 47 years since the 1977 World Cup that they have achieved a silver medal or better in an international tournament that they hosted. The Japanese women's national team also advanced to the final in the women's final round held last week, so both the men's and women's national team have advanced to the final.
The first set started with a block point for Japan, and Japan took the lead by scoring spikes from defense. After scoring a break point in a good way and making the score 11-7, Slovenia called a timeout. Japan's block and defense maintained good form. However, after a strong serve from Slovenia, Japan's serve reception was disrupted and Japan was caught up at 12-12. After Japan took a timeout, Slovenia temporarily took the lead, but with a spike from Ishikawa Yuki, Japan succeeded in taking the lead again at 20-18. Japan then created opportunities with Ishikawa's serve and pulled away from Slovenia at 22-19. Finally, with a service ace from Nishida Yuji, Japan took the lead at 25-21 and took the first set.
In the second set, Ishikawa, who was in good form after the match against Canada, took the first point with a spike, and further blocks and Slovenia's mistakes gave Japan a big lead of 5-0. However, Slovenia scored points with blocks and service aces, and Japan was tied at 10-10. Japan's serve reception was broken against the opponent's good serves, and the game became difficult, allowing Slovenia to take the lead in the middle of the match. Trailing by one point at 22-23, Ishikawa's spike at the end of a long rally erupted in cheers from the crowd, and this turned the tide in Japan's favor. After surviving Slovenia's set point, the score was at deuce at 24-24, and substitute player Takahashi Kentaro got a service ace to make it 25-24. After another deuce, Onodera Futoshi's quick hit gave Japan the set point. Finally, Nishida's service ace made it 26-24, and Japan won the set.
In the third set, just like the previous two sets, Ishikawa scored the first point and led the team. With a service ace from Otsuka Tatsunobu, Japan got into a good flow and the score was 11-7, when Slovenia took a timeout. Japan maintained the lead in this set without being caught up in the middle, and maintained a good performance in both side outs and breaks. However, towards the end of the set, Slovenia fought back. Japan's serve reception was disrupted by Slovenia's strong serve, and they were unable to get a side out, allowing Japan to turn the game around to 20-21, and Japan called a timeout. Slovenia then scored a service ace, making the score 20-23, and Japan took another timeout. After the timeout, Slovenia made some mistakes and Japan managed to turn the game around to 25-24. After a long deuce, Japan took the set 31-29, and advanced to the finals in straight sets with a 3-0 set count.
Slovenia's serve was strong, and there were times when the serve reception was disrupted, but the side-out rate was higher than the opponent. Japan also made good defensive comebacks in this match, and maintained a high break rate. The number of mistakes was also 25 for Slovenia, compared to 19 for Japan. The fact that we were able to play a precise game against the opponent led to our victory.
Nishida Yuji
"I'm personally happy with this result, both personally and as a team, but it's still just a silver medal (that's all that's been confirmed). I want to prepare with my eyes set on victory. Tomorrow's match will be even tougher. I'm just going to enjoy playing volleyball. I want everyone to enjoy it and win. We've come this far, so I want to win. I was disappointed in the preliminary round against France. I want to fight so that we don't lose."
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