Slovenia won the bronze medals in the Volleyball Nations League after defeating Japan 3:1 (25:22, 22:25, 25:19, 25:23) in the small final in Ningbo. Thus, the Slovenians finally reached their first distinction in the tournament, after invariably remaining in fourth place in their previous three appearances in the bronze medal match. Fabio Soli's team reacted in the best possible way after the defeat to Poland in the semifinals, while the Japanese failed to recover mentally from the dramatic tie-break loss against the USA, which ended their streak of 13 consecutive VNL victories. Before this match, Japan had won the last seven matches against Slovenia, including the 3:1 (25:27, 25:16, 25:22, 25:22) victory in the preliminary phase of this year's VNL. For the Slovenians, this is their first victory over the "samurai" since 2021. The big hero for the winners was opposite Nik Mujanović, who finished with 24 points (21 from attack, 2 blocks, and 1 ace). Captain Rok Možič also played an excellent match with 23 points, including 2 successful blocks. For Japan, the most effective scorer was Ran Takahashi with 23 points, 2 of which were blocks, and Yuji Nishida added 10 points, including one from a block. With these 24 points, Nik Mujanović now has a total of 277 points in VNL 2026, but despite his strong performance, he remains one point behind Bulgarian national player Alex Nikolov, who finished his participation after the preliminary phase with 278 points and continues to lead in scoring. The match statistics clearly show the superiority of the Slovenians in the game elements. They finished with 62 successful attacks against 52 for Japan, scored twice as many blocks (10 against 5), and served twice as many aces (6 against 3). The only advantage for the Japanese was in points after opponent errors – 33 against 23.

Although Japan scored more points from opponent errors, Slovenia compensated for this with clear superiority in attack, block, and serve. These three elements proved decisive, with the Slovenians scoring 10 more points in direct game actions.

Japan had a slight advantage in digs in defense and reception, but it failed to compensate for their lower attacking efficiency. The success also brought important points for the world ranking. Slovenia climbed to fifth place, displacing Japan, who dropped to sixth position after the defeat.

photo:volleyballworld.com