In the early morning of June 30, Beijing time, the 2024 World Men's Volleyball League Finals, the second semi-final, the Japanese men's volleyball team played against the Slovenian team, and in the end, the Japanese team defeated the Slovenian team 3-0 in three straight games, and advanced to the final of the VNL for the first time, making history.
Japan is ranked 2nd in the world, Slovenia is ranked 3rd in the world, and Slovenia is ranked 1st in the sub-station! Judging from the performance of the sub-tournaments, the Slovenian team is obviously stronger! However, Japan's recent form has been so good that even against the No.1 team, Japan has a chance to qualify for the final.
In the first game, the Japanese team played quite well, and the Slovenian team did not withstand the pressure in the key points, and the Japanese team took the lead 25-21 and led the Slovenian team 1-0.
In the second game, the scores of the two teams were quite tug-of-war from the opening stage, rising alternately, and the game was very stalemate. Entering the final stage of the game, the two teams were still 22-22, and the Slovenian team scored three points in a row from 21-22 to 23-22. In a long round, the Japanese team made consecutive defensive rebounds, and Yuki Ishikawa hit a dunk, 23-23. At the crucial moment, Slovenia still won the game point at 24-23, and then made a service error, 24-24. Japan scored on serve and won the game point 25-24, and Yuki Ishikawa made a mistake to make it 25-25. Japan scored two more points in a row to take a 27-25 lead and a 2-0 lead.
In the third game, the Japanese team started 5-3! Slovenia was stuck again at 7 points, Japan opened up the gap 11-7, Yuki Ishikawa performed well, and Slovenia took a timeout. After the timeout, the Japanese team also continued to suppress, Nishida was determined to hit out of bounds, and the Japanese team led 13-8 to 5 points, forcing the Slovenian team to make substitutions and adjustments. After that, the Japanese team still managed to win and advanced to the final 3-0.