Serbia sweep Türkiye to end the VNL on a high

Bošković scores 21 as the two-time world champions take down the European champions

After eight straight losses, the Serbians turned things around in Apeldoorn

The world champion Serbian team concluded their largely frustrating Volleyball Nations League 2025 campaign on a positive note. In Apeldoorn this week, they secured three wins in four matches, successfully avoiding the relegation risks they faced at the beginning of the third and final week of the Preliminary Phase.

Their final significant win in Apeldoorn was a dominant 3-0 sweep (25-18, 25-20, 25-18) against the current European champions, Türkiye. This strong performance offers fans renewed hope for Serbia`s upcoming attempt to achieve a third consecutive title at the FIVB Women`s Volleyball World Championship, which is less than a month away.

This Sunday`s win allowed Serbia, who had lost all matches in the first two weeks and faced a significant relegation threat before Apeldoorn, to finish the VNL 2025 in 15th place with three wins and 14 points. Türkiye, already qualified for the Finals in Łódź, Poland (July 23-27), remains in fifth place with eight wins and 23 points, potentially being overtaken by China (eight wins, 22 points).

Star opposite and team captain Tijana Bošković, brought in to lead Serbia during the final preliminary week, once again delivered, top-scoring with 21 points (18 kills, two blocks, one ace) in the victory. Outside hitter Vanja Ivanović also contributed significantly with 15 points (12 kills, two blocks, one ace).

I`m very happy and proud of how the team played this week,` Bošković said. `I think we improved every match and today we showed what we can do. In the first weeks, even if we lost all eight matches, I was proud of how the team fought. We have a young team with a lot of potential and I feel that we couldn`t have finished the VNL in a better way than we did today.`

On the Turkish side, outside hitter Yaprak Erkek was the most prolific, getting ten points (nine kills, one block), one more than opposite Melissa Vargas.

We had too many ups and downs this week, especially with our defeat to Czechia,` outside hitter Meliha Diken reflected. `I was very proud of how we reacted to that loss yesterday against Italy, but today we didn`t have the same energy and Serbia played really well. We know what we need to work on for the Finals and that`s what we`ll do.`

Earlier matches in Apeldoorn saw Belgium defeat Czechia 3-1 (19-25, 25-23, 25-17, 25-21) and Italy secure a 3-0 victory over the Netherlands (25-23, 28-26, 25-18).

Celukaev gets ten blocks as Germany beat the Dominican Republic

Germany, also qualified for the Finals in Łódź starting in ten days, concluded their preliminary campaign successfully by defeating the Dominican Republic 3-1 (25-20, 25-13, 21-25, 25-21) in the opening match in Arlington.

Germany currently holds seventh place with seven wins and 23 points, though the United States (eighth place, seven wins, 19 points) could potentially overtake them. The Dominican Republic finished the VNL 2025 in 12th place with five wins and 13 points.

Emilia Weske led Germany`s scoring with 21 points (17 kills, two blocks, two aces), supported by outside hitter Lina Alsmeier with 20 points (18 kills, one block, one ace). However, a standout performance came from middle blocker Anastasia Cekulaev, who recorded an impressive ten blocks as part of her 15-point total.

Opposite Gaila Gonzalez scored 15 points for the Dominicans, with 12 kills and three aces.

The final day of the Preliminary Phase in Arlington features two more matches: Thailand vs. Canada at 15:00 local time (20:00 GMT) and the United States vs. China at 19:00 (00:00 GMT, Monday).