The penultimate day of the second tournament in this year's Volleyball Nations League offered everything fans could expect from the strongest national competition – dramatic comebacks, two five-set thrillers, decisive victories for favorites, and significant shifts in the standings. After the six matches, Japan remained the only undefeated team in the tournament, Slovenia climbed to second place after an impressive win over Brazil, and the battle for the last spot, granting participation in the Final Eight, became even more intricate.
The Bulgarian national team also kept realistic chances to stay in the battle for the final tournament, having continued its series of dramatic five-set matches with another marathon, this time successfully concluded against Canada. The victory brought the "Lions" their fourth win since the start of the tournament and left them just two positions below the cutoff for the Final Eight.
At the same time, Turkey pulled off an incredible comeback from 0:2 down against Argentina and settled into eighth place, Brazil suffered a heavy blow from an inspired Slovenia, and France kept its hopes alive after a convincing victory over Serbia. Poland, for its part, broke its streak of five consecutive tie-breaks by overturning Germany with a 3:1 win.
The decisive final day promises even more intrigue. Almost all teams still in the fight for the Final Eight will play direct or extremely important matches that could completely reshuffle the provisional standings before the third week of the Nations League.

Bulgaria broke the negative streak against Canada and remained in the fight.

After a painful defeat to Slovenia, Bulgaria showed character and overcame Canada with a 3:2 (25:27, 25:22, 21:25, 25:18, 15:11) win, recording their fourth victory in the Volleyball Nations League.
For the third time, Gianlorenzo Blengini's boys played a five-set match, but this time they managed to break their opponent after another comeback. The excellent intervention of Denislav Bardarov proved particularly important; he joined in the fourth set and remained on the court until the end, contributing 11 points.
Aleksandar Nikolov was once again the leader of the Bulgarian team with 25 points, although this time he made more attack errors than usual. Simeon Nikolov impressed with his serve, scoring five aces, and captain Alex Grozdanov also finished with 11 points.
The victory was particularly valuable from a psychological standpoint, as Bulgaria broke a seven-year negative streak against the Canadians and kept its hopes alive for a spot among the top eight teams.

Japan survived against the USA and remained the only undefeated team.

The highest-quality match of the day pitted the two teams occupying the top spots in the provisional standings. Japan showed impressive resilience and overturned the USA with a 3:2 (18:25, 25:21, 20:25, 25:22, 15:13) victory, after trailing twice.
Thus, the Asian team remained the only squad without a loss this VNL season and now has seven wins from seven matches. The victory practically guarantees Japan a place among the main favorites for the Final Eight even before the end of the second week.
Ran Takahashi played another magnificent match and finished with 26 points, while Kento Miyaura added another 20. For the Americans, Jake Hanes scored 25 points, and Torey DeFalco and Matthew Anderson also had strong performances, but it wasn't enough.
The loss did not remove the USA from the top of the standings and allowed Slovenia to climb ahead of the Americans after their decisive victory over Brazil.

Poland ended its tie-break streak, and Leon made a strong comeback.

After five consecutive matches decided by a tie-break, Olympic silver medalist Poland finally achieved a more decisive victory. In front of nearly 12,000 spectators in Gliwice, the hosts overturned Germany with a 3:1 (23:25, 25:16, 25:17, 25:15) win.
The Germans started excellently and took the first set, but then the Poles significantly raised their serving and blocking level, which allowed them to assert complete dominance until the end of the match.
Bartłomiej Bołądź was the top scorer with 21 points, including four aces, and the big news for Polish fans was the successful return of Wilfredo León. The star of Bogdanka LUK Lublin, where he is a teammate of Bulgaria's captain Alex Grozdanov, scored 17 points in his first VNL appearance this season and immediately showed how important he will be for Nikola Grbić's team in the coming weeks.
For Germany, Erik Röhrs was the top scorer with 15 points, but Massimo Botti's team failed to repeat its strong performances from the first week of the tournament.

Slovenia crushed Brazil and climbed to second place.

One of the most surprising results of the day came from Ljubljana, where the hosts from Slovenia gave Brazil no chance and won convincingly 3:0 (27:25, 25:17, 25:20). In front of more than 5000 spectators at "Arena Stozice", Fabio Soli's players played perhaps their strongest match since the start of the tournament.
The first set was completely even and offered a fierce battle until the last rallies, but after taking a 1:0 lead, the Slovenians completely took the initiative. Excellent blocking and significantly more effective net play gradually broke the South Americans, who never found an answer to the hosts' aggressive game.
Toncek Stern was the leader of the Slovenian team with 19 points, and Rok Mozic added 17 more. Young Nik Mujanovic also performed excellently, scoring 11 points. For Brazil, only Darlan Sousa reached double digits with 10 points.
The success moved Slovenia to second place in the temporary standings with six wins and 14 points, while the defeat dropped Brazil out of the places qualifying for the Final Eight. Additionally, the Slovenians overtook "Seleção" in the world rankings, where they are now No. 5 in the world.

Turkey made a spectacular comeback from 0:2 against Argentina.

The second five-set spectacle of the day was in Gliwice, where Turkey showed incredible character and turned around Argentina with a 3:2 (19:25, 21:25, 25:21, 25:18, 18:16) victory, after trailing 0:2 in sets.
Slobodan Kovac's team seemed close to defeat, but gradually imposed more stable blocking and serving, which completely turned the tide of the match. In the dramatic tie-break, the Turks showed more composure and reached their fourth victory in the VNL.
Middle blocker Bedirhan Bülbül played a particularly impressive match, scoring 18 points, including six successful blocks. Gökçen Yüksel added 17 points, and Kaan Gürbüz finished with 16 points, three of which were aces.
For Argentina, Agustin Loser and German Gomez finished with 16 points each, but this proved insufficient.
The best Bulgarian international referee Ivaylo Ivanov was the second referee of the match.

France left Serbia no chance.

Olympic champion France also kept their chances for a higher ranking, after convincingly defeating Serbia 3:0 (25:23, 25:16, 25:22).
In front of nearly 6000 spectators in Orleans, "Les Bleus" controlled the match almost the entire time and did not allow the Serbian team to develop their usual aggressive play.
21-year-old Mathis Enard was the top scorer for the hosts with 12 points, Stephen Boyer added 10, and Trevor Clevenot scored 9. For Serbia, the best scorer was the merely 18-year-old Vuk Kulpina with 9 points.
The French recorded their fourth victory in the tournament and remained close to the top ten, while Serbia, despite the defeat, continues to be in the zone for the Final Eight.

The battle for eighth place is becoming increasingly fierce.

If the top of the standings is gradually taking shape, the fight for the last position, which grants participation in the Final Eight, is completely open.

After the penultimate day, Turkey occupies eighth place with four wins and 11 points, but its lead over Brazil and Bulgaria is solely in the set ratio. The Turks have a coefficient of 1.153 against 1.076 for Brazil and 1.071 for Bulgaria. The difference between the South Americans and the "Lions" is practically symbolic, meaning that every point won or lost could matter at the end of the preliminary phase.
France is also not out of contention. Although they only have 9 points, the Olympic champions can still join the battle if other results develop favorably.

After the penultimate day of the second week, no dramatic changes occurred in the world rankings, but several trends deserve attention. Slovenia has already climbed to fifth place, overtaking Brazil, which continues to lose ground after its weak series in Ljubljana. Bulgaria maintained its eighth place and continues to hold a comfortable lead over Germany, Turkey, and Ukraine. However, the differences between ninth, tenth, and eleventh are minimal, meaning that every subsequent match could lead to new shifts. At the top, Poland remains the leader, followed by Italy and the USA, while Japan solidified its place in the world elite with another impressive performance. On Sunday, all 18 teams will play their last matches of the second week, after which the battle for the Final Eight will become even clearer.

photo: Nikolay Varadinov