🇺🇦Ukraine experienced real agony against the Netherlands, but still emerged victorious – 3:2 (25:21, 20:25, 20:25, 26:24, 15:13) in their first match of the third week of the Nations League. Although the "Oranje" are second to last in the standings, Raul Lozano's proteges had to go through a path of suffering to reach success.

The Ukrainians started confidently and took the first set, but then lost control. The combination of Tom Koops (28 points) and Michiel Ahyi (21 points) disrupted the opponent's reception and defense, and a drop in Ilya Kovalov's (12 points) efficiency further complicated the task for Ukraine. Trailing 1:2 in sets, the "yellow-blues" threw everything into the fourth part and dramatically pulled out a 26:24 win, and in the tie-break, they managed to impose themselves with a minimal lead – 15:13.

Vasyl Tupchii was above all for Ukraine – the opposite hitter scored 21 points with a huge 60% attack efficiency, showing stability in the most tense moments. Help also came from Oleksandr Yanchuk (17 points) and Semeniuk (16 points).

🇮🇹Italy crushed Serbia in less than an hour

A completely different scenario was offered by the second match of the day, whereItaly routed Serbia 3:0 (25:15, 25:14, 25:16). The world champions gave no chance to the Balkan team, who looked totally helpless and with negligible attack efficiency – barely 20% for most of the starters. Only Aleksandar Stefanović showed some dignity with 37.5% success rate.

The "Squadra Azzurra" made 12 blocks and 9 aces, with the brightest figures beingAlessandro Michieletto(16 points, 75% efficiency) andKamil Rychlicki(11 points, 50%). Gargiulo also impressed with 13 points, while Giannelli orchestrated the attack with ease.

Serbia has only one win since the beginning of the tournament and is getting closer to the danger zone, which could remove them from the next edition of the Nations League.

🇸🇮Slovenia turned Canada around, the Štern brothers were elusive

In the last match of the daySlovenia defeated Canada 3:1 (21:25, 25:21, 25:19, 25:21), even though they lost the first set. The North Americans had a strong start but then started to struggle - mostly due to many service errors and passive play in key moments.

Stars of CanadaKetrzynskiandHoferscored 10 and 11 points respectively, but with a dismal success rate - 12.9% and 23.8%. The Slovenian duoStern- Tain (21 pts) and Siege (12 pts) remained completely in their shadow, whileKozamernikplayed an almost perfect match with 10 points, 4 blocks and only one missed attack.

📌Results of the day:

A fiercely contested final stage of the group phase awaits us, where every victory is golden.