Reigning champions Italy set up crunch clash against Poland in Nations League Women semi-finals

The top four national teams from the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Nations League Women Preliminary Phase—Italy, Brazil, Japan, and Poland—secured their places in the tournament quarterfinals and now enter the weekend with a strong determination to compete for the title of the seventh edition of the competition.

The first semi-final which will take place in the Atlas Arena, in Łódź on Saturday will be the one between the hosts, Poland, and the reigning champions in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League Women, Italy.

Italy extended their winning streak to 13 matches in the current edition of the FIVB Volleyball Nations League Women and to 21 matches overall in the competition with a comprehensive win against the United States of America in the quarter-finals, 3:0.

Italy had their ups and downs, as proven by the scoreline, where they took the first set, 25:22, followed by a 25:21 win in the second set and a hard-fought win in the third set, 28:26, but eventually the European side delivered a fantastic overall performance.

Paola Egonu led Italy with 20 points, followed by Ekaterina Antropova, Anna Danesi and Sarah Fahr, with nine, eight and eight points respectively, as Italy extended their chances to win their third title in the competition.

A friendly foe will be waiting in the semi-finals, Poland, a rematch of last edition’s semi-final, when Italy dominated and took a clear 3:0 win. However, this time, Poland will be at home, therefore having another incentive to produce an excellent performance and seal their maiden title.

In the quarter-finals, Poland, which finished fourth in the preliminary round, faced a tough challenge against the People’s Republic of China.

Backed by their home fans, Poland came back twice, after conceding the first and the third sets, 17:25 and 19:25. With a 25:19 win in the fourth set, the European side pushed the match into the decider, where they took a 15:12 win against the Asian side, sealing their semi-finals berth.

Opposite Magdalena Stysiak, Poland’s star, had 25 points, while Martyna Czyrnianska added 16 points, in her best outing of the season, to help the European side clinch their third semi-finals berth in a row.

22 points from Melissa Vargas and 17 points from Yaprak Erkek were not enough for Türkiye to come back to their winning ways and secure another semi-finals berth. Losing the first and the third set against Japan saw Türkiye forced to come from behind, and they did so, pushing the match in the final set.

There, Japan had meaningful contributions from captain Manu Ishikawa, who had 19 points at the end of the match, to clinch the decider, 15:9, and progress to the semi-finals.

The fourth European side, Germany, had little chance against Brazil, conceding the match with a 0:3 scoreline, with only the second set being balanced, 26:24, in Brazil’s favour.

Italy vs Poland and Japan vs Brazil, the two semi-finals of this editions’ FIVB Volleyball Nations League Women will take place on Saturday, with the medal games scheduled for Sunday.