Japan vs Italy Epic Volleyball Highlights | Women's VNL 2026

Rob Stuke alongside Kennedy Mason with Denise Austin. We are underway. Japan attacks with Watt on the outside. Italy on it. Here's Nervini. Cross court. Fukudome takes. Isikawa wasn't there. She manages to get it over. Here's a free ball chance. Taken by Nwakalor. Well, this is an unfortunate slip up for the very first... ...woman who scored 1,300 points in the Italian League over the last two seasons. A good serve. But that is crushed down by Yamada through the middle attack. You know, I think the one thing... ...from... Nervini's serve. Fukudome backtracks to take it. Slide play from Shimomura. Oh my golly! Oh my goodness! See what she does on her serve. Sends it at Fukudome. Sato. Nice pick up. Nervini off hands. Omarui. Again, good coverage by Watta. Picked up by Nervini. Tough play for Kambi. Good coverage from Antropova. Omarui. Oh, she's done it! A broken play on the Italian side. Sakai sets it up. And Watta shut down Nwakalor all over it. That is huge for Italy. ...in Milano this year in the Italian League. Perfect pass on a tough serve. Good up from Sato. Isikawa facing a big block. And she's got it off fingers. Nice job. I just think... Sends Isikawa backing up. She's going to come from off the court to swing. Hammers it. It comes back to Japan. They attack again. And again, they recycle. They try the tip. Italy's on it. This is going to go over. Isikawa. Sakai. Watta. Far pops it up. Antropova, no approach. Fukudome sets it. On the bump, the dig set, if you will. Nwakalor! And Omarui saves it. But it's not going to be... Seiki goes back to the other part of the double switch, Akimoto. Italy recycles it. Omarui again. And she finds a path down. Nicely done. And Omarui is connecting with ease. She is certainly... Enjoyed that. That really inspired her. She gassed her up a little bit. Pumped her tires. Yeah, exactly. Oh, wow. Yamada. Those are some tires pumped up big time. Isikawa takes it. Steps in front of Fukudome. Because she really wanted to do that. And that's exactly what the crowd loved. Reserve on set point. Not a great take from Japan. Isikawa can't save it. She might get another chance. They go the other way for Shimomura. Oh, Frosino kicks it back over. Japan comes again with Isikawa. And this time she tools the block. Isikawa was short. Frosino has to lay out far. Picked up by Fukudome. So Japan gets to attack again. Sato, no. She's missed it. No touch on the block. Sato, blocked. There you go. There's that intimidating block you talked about. I mean, far. One of the games she had. She's been with the Red Rockets for a long time. Now she's going to Italy to play. Kambi sets up Nervini. Fukudome just waits in the angle. Sato tries to tip. Far has the answer. But Japan gets to come again with Wada. And Trapova gets under it. Here's Nervini. Cross court. Yes, she's done it. What an angle. Akbas really trying to get his team to get on their toes. Here's Sato. She was on her toes. See when Sato gets going. She's so, so fun to watch. She's so springy and so wimpy. And she just gets her footwork so good. Shimomura. Wow, on the angle. Just pommels it. Well, we haven't seen her do something like that since the first set where she had quite a few of them where she just. When she comes into the game for Japan. So far they win. Sato in the V&O that is. Sato takes advantage of that overpass. What Kambi did there realizing it was going over. Made it look like she was going to set. And Trapova cross court. And much to the chagrin of Isikawa and her fans. She won't be able to track that one down. Dry where she wants to play it. Sato plays it instead. The one hand set. Perfectly executed Yamada. Wow, that is stunning. So much composure. We think that they're trying to do that once in a while. They just want to show off a little bit. Here's a Trapova. Down the line. Hammers it. Her 10th point of the game. Serve. 11 servings. 16. Sarah Farr hasn't had a lot of attacks. She gets covered this time. Isikawa sneaks it over Farr and scores. That's a break point. That is incredibly sneaky. Kambi sets it up for Trapova. She's shut down by bouncing around again. We'll have a look at what that means. Take from Nervini. Farr through the middle. Not a good up from Pizzamato. Wada's going to try to save it. And beautifully. Farr scores. Now it's set point Italy. Just like that. It has led Italy against USA. But it is hard. And Trapova ends it with an ace. Magnificent. She holds off until... Italy are going to need to really focus up here in set three. Oh my. They focused already. They just focused on an ace for Omarui. Love it. Omar... Under any amount of danger for any length of the time in this set. Certainly. And only a little bit in the second set. Late. She can bring it. Down she goes after Omarui. Farr is dug beautifully by Sakaya. Free ball chance for Italy though. They come again. Everybody available. Sarah Farr wants it and drills it. I don't know if we've ever seen a... Nervini serve. Targets Isakawa. There's Wada. Nervini's going to track this down after the first touch by Entropova. Japan in system. Here they come. And Yamaguchi couldn't finish. Might get another chance. Wada couldn't finish it. A chance for Omarui. Dug by Isakawa. And Sarah Farr brings the ladder. Witness next point right here. Akimoto makes no mistake. The 19-year-old who played in Germany last year. Yamaguchi serve. Here's Omarui. Rips it. Seki. He's back in setting. And Isakawa gets shut down. This time it's the knock. Middle attack. That's going to score from Yamada. Still a hill to climb. Yamada. Nervini. Better pass. Nervini swing. But off hands. Here's Isakawa. That's going to go all the way over. Japan in system. Here they come. But not a good set at all. Entropova is going to score off the block. Here's Wada. That's better. That's more like the Wada we know. Kitamadu. And Farr. Nice. Good job too by the center schola to make something of that. Uesugi Hara who's come into the game serving. Omarui. Pick up from Wada. Isakawa blocked. Block-a-lord. And you heard the coach of Japan say they are blocking so well right in this game. And opposite. And has played really well. And through the middle. Yamada. You can stand up as well. It's okay. You're in your car. Don't do that. Don't stand up. Here's Isakawa. Nice pick up. Still going. Italy. Entropova. And it's going to fall. Italy too much for Japan in this game. They win it in straight sets.