Poland complete a reverse sweep to beat Canada in Chicago

The Europeans couldn’t return to the top of the standings, but secured their fifth victory in the VNL 2025.

Poland avoided back-to-back setbacks in the VNL 2025 with a huge comeback against Canada.

The third day of the second week of the Volleyball Nations League 2025 in Chicago concluded dramatically on Friday. World Ranking leaders Poland pulled off a stunning reverse sweep against Canada at the NOW Arena. Poland needed a 3-0 or 3-1 win for three points to reclaim the top spot after a loss to Italy on Wednesday and Brazil overtaking them on Thursday. Despite falling short of that specific goal, they celebrated a significant comeback victory, recovering from being two sets down to win the match 3-2 with set scores of 30-32, 14-25, 25-17, 25-23, 15-13.

This fifth win in six VNL 2025 matches gave Poland two points, bringing their total to 15. They are now tied with Brazil, but the South Americans hold the top position due to a superior set ratio. Canada gained one point from the match, reaching eight points (two wins, five losses), placing them 14th in the standings.

Standout outside hitter Kamil Semeniuk, who joined the team in Chicago this week, was Poland`s top scorer against Canada with 20 points, including 17 kills, 2 aces, and 1 block. Another key contributor was fellow outside hitter Artur Szalpuk, adding 18 points from 15 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace.

Artur Szalpuk commented on the team`s mindset after falling behind: “We just kept playing our game and believing that at some point they wouldn’t be able to continue to play as well as they were. We took our chances and are just really happy that we managed to come back today.”

For Canada, two players also stood out offensively. Opposite Xander Ketrzynski led their scoring with 20 points (19 kills, 1 ace), while outside hitter Brodie Hofer contributed 18 points (15 kills, 2 aces, 1 block).

Italy serves strong to sweep China

In another match earlier on Friday in Chicago, Italy showed strong form after a rest day, sweeping China 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-19). This marked Italy`s second victory in Chicago this week. Their serving was particularly effective, landing eight aces compared to none for China, which proved crucial against China`s fast offense.

Alessandro Michieletto was the top scorer for Italy with 17 points (11 kills, 4 aces, 2 blocks). Opposite Kamil Rychlicki added 15 points (12 kills, 2 aces, 1 block), and outside hitter Daniele Lavia scored 13 (12 kills, 1 ace).

Head coach Ferdinando De Giorgi highlighted the importance of the win: “This victory is very important for us in the standings. I think that today we served very well and that was important because China play very fast and don’t have the players to play with high sets. Tomorrow it’s going to be different against Brazil and we’re looking forward to playing against these types of teams.”

For China, only two players reached double-digit scoring: outside hitter Wen Zihua with 12 points (11 kills, 1 block) and opposite Wang Bin with 11 points, all from kills.

This win moved Italy to third place in the VNL standings with 13 points (five wins, one loss), behind Brazil and Poland. China is currently 15th with seven points (two wins, five losses) and has one match remaining in Chicago this week.