Japan continued its unbeaten run in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) men’s volleyball tournament after a 25-19, 26-24, 23-25, 25-17 triumph over the Netherlands on Friday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Yuki Ishikawa anchored the victory with 17 points on 14 attacks as world No. 6 Japan stretched their winning streak to 10 games to stay ahead of the second-running United States (8-1).
Masahiro Sekita distributed the ball well for the Japanese with 25 excellent sets, as Akihiro Yamauchi, Kento Miyaura, and Ran Takahashi contributed 13, 12, and 10 points, respectively.
Japan showed fresher legs after resting the past two days as they scored a 25-19 win in the opening set before nearly squandering four set points in the ensuing frame for a narrow 26-24 victory made possible by Sekita’s ace.
But the world No. 10 Netherlands saw a slight opening despite a 0-2 deficit by pulling away from a 19-all deadlock in the fourth set to extend the match. But that was their last stand, as the Japanese’s service aces rained it down with a clinical fourth-set win.
VNL’s top spiker, Nimir Abdel-Aziz, struggled anew for just three points as Wouter Ter Maat tallied 21 to carry the fight for the Netherlands, which stayed at No. 8 with a 5-6 card but in a shaky position in front of tailgating Serbia (5-5) and France (4-5).
Earlier in the day, Italy (8-3) and Poland (8-2) caught up with the race leaders with big wins over Slovenia (25-13, 25-22, 25-17) and Brazil (25-23, 22-25, 25-21, 25-21), respectively.
