JAPAN vs SERBIA HIGHLIGHTS Women s VNL 2025

Yoshino and Shimomura in that serve rotation. Here comes Serbia's captain. First to get this play underway. First touch of the ball on Ryada. Straight into it. Lovely pass. Perfect for Seki. And then Shimomura on the slide attack. First time we've seen her in that position and it went like a dream. Well what impresses me so much about Japan and I'm constantly reminded about this is... How do you do that? No wonder she can smile. What a finish. She bounces this ball. Wada right between the legs. Another wonderful pass and a brilliant finish. It's all set there. Good serve. That's come back from Wada and she'll go again if she gets the chance. Instead it's switched. Oh my word. They've done it again. Well she has no other option. So watch how big this Serbian block is down the line. So she's blocked. Doesn't matter who's setting. The ball still getting over with power. Well it's the coverage. Watch this. Up there. One arm dig by Wada and then a great set. A powerful serve. Not the greatest pass but let's see if she can rescue it. Oh lovely. Great recovery there by Mirkovic. Now it's a juggle. Gotta get this over. They've done really well but now they've got to be ready for the free ball and then Shikawa just puts it through. Six set points. Well this whole rally was dominated by the front row of Japan. Power serve. Oh good hit. Shikawa somehow got it back. The amazing defense again by Japan. Still off. I thought Kojima was going to get there. So that's one set point saved. Yeah Kordogic really hard attack angle here to position five. The Japanese team as well. And that's not a way that Serbia would have wanted to close this first set but Japan won't mind. 25-19. Job done. Right bring on sets two and three please. Nice swing. Power of the Japanese serve. They've seen them on television but in real life completely faster seemingly. Take that off the hands. That class aesthetics. The aggression. Go for it. Be bold. Be ambitious. Backcourt attack. Pipe. Thank you. Great dig by Shimomura. Great dig but Ishikawa. Serbia need a big service run from her. That was almost brilliant. Kordogic just lost a bit of her bearings. What a power serve that is. Brilliant pick up by Ishikawa. Joust at the net. And Ishikawa takes the run over. Yoshino takes that. Look at this dig. Amazing effort from Ishikawa. Throwing herself on the floor and here's the thing. It's too tight. Just try to close this gap. It's not exactly where Shimomura want a big chance now. She'll take that. Another point for Serbia. Keep it coming. One by one. Great dig. Kojima keeps it in play. Still in play. What a point this is. Free ball. Seki's waiting. What a rise. Oh she's put that wide. Oh no. She had that look to me where I was standing. That was going to be out but it's a bit of a run now. Good serve and another great pick up for the last three four years. But this is where a coach learns about a player. The character. The resilience. The energy. Nice. Good contact. Good point. Mukulic. This has got to be good. He is at a point. Seki. Fiery. Doesn't get the tip. Seki again. None of it. Has she squeezed it? No she hasn't. That was really bold. She's been finding a mark but not then. And that's the end of the second set. Japan are home. 25-21. Great rearguard action by Serbia. But Japan now lead this match by two sets. So set three. Serbia need to win this. Can they get a foothold in this early stage? That'll do nicely. Wada is blocked. Hucelac. She knew where she wanted to put it and she absolutely arrowed it. That's gone through but rescued by Jegic. And Ivanovic goes deep. And Wada. Double block but no worries. It's about handling that pressure isn't it? To make sure if there's a chance you take it. You have to. How many options do you want? Fantastic back row attack from Japan. Right now you can just see how in control of this match they are. It's their ball to give players the opportunity and do some load management for the veterans before week two. The point about building points is very valid because they've hardly done it. They've got two points in a row every so often and there's another. The run's gone. The Olympics in Paris was not Japan. It was almost that they ran out of steam having won the finals and won the silver in the Biennale in 2024 because they just never looked like the Japan who was going to challenge for medals there. This is much more like it. Revitalize under their new coach but Serbia holding their own so far in this rally. Clever. Really clever. At last. She's done a lot of that. Ishkawa hasn't quite come off yet but when you're two sets up and 89 in the third. Hey now's the time to try. From now on it's full pelt. Bulgarian Canada to come for them. Big hit. Off the hands. We'll take that. Thank you. 7-2 in terms of blocks in favor of Serbia. So that's been good and that's a great hit by Kojima. Kojima gets it up and then gets really frustrated that they couldn't complete the job. What am I talking about? Sorry. It's Nakagawa. Setter. Yes. Vastly experienced. 15 years as a professional and she closed this out. Here's a chance and there is Yoshino. Completes the job for Japan.