Ukraine threatened, but did not cope. Poles will play for VNL medals!

The Poles began the most important part of the fight to triumph in the 2026 Nations League and defend the title. A year ago, Nikola Grbic’s team gave the Italians no chance in the final, winning without losing a set. This year’s intercontinental phase showed that the Polish team is in very good shape: they lost only two matches, both after tight tie-breaks against Japan and Slovenia.

Nations League 2026. Poland – Ukraine in the fight for the semi-finals

At the beginning of the final tournament in China, Poles had to face Ukraine, a team that has emerged as one of the biggest surprises of the tournament this season. The team led by Raul Lozano advanced to the final tournament for the first time in history, causing several big surprises along the way and defeating, among others, Italians and Brazilians.

Poles have already found out this season that Ukraine can be a very uncomfortable rival. In the intercontinental phase, our team won 3:2, but the match was full of twists and turns. Now the opponent will be even stronger, because one of the leaders, Oleh Płotnicki, has returned to the team.

– We have to expect that Oleh Plotnitsky will take on the burden of offensive play and this is the danger we must be prepared for. The serve is an element in which they can do a lot of damage to us, they have cool variations and this is one of their strongest elements – said Kamil Nalepka, statistician of the Polish national team and former first coach of PGE Projekt Warszawa.

Poles play against Ukraine in the VNL semi-final

The Poles set their own pace from the very beginning. The first actions were even, but the White and Reds quickly started to build a 2-3 point advantage. He opened the score Wilfredo Leonwho broke the Ukrainian block and a moment later added an effective counterattack Bartłomiej Bołądź. The Ukrainians tried to respond, but on the Polish side the block and strong serve were becoming more and more visible. Tomasz Fornal sent a service ace, and a moment later, Wilfredo Leon finished one of the best moves of the set with an impressive kick (17:11).

The Poles were close to closing the set, but Ukraine did not intend to give up. Leon and Bołądź regularly added points, but Yanchuk and Płotnycki responded with effective counterattacks and prolonged the emotions in the end. However, the White and Reds still had a safe advantage and a series of set points. The first set ended with the victory of Nikola Grbic’s team 25:22.

Nations League 2026. Poles’ problems in the second set

The second set was definitely more fierce from the beginning than the first set. The Poles started well, but Ukraine quickly responded. Płotnycki found a way to block the Polish team several times, and Yanchuk made his presence felt with his strong serve and effective counter-attacks.

For a long part of the set, both teams played point for point. The Poles tried to escape after successful actions by Szymon Jakubiszak, Bartłomiej Lemański and Tomasz Fornal, and after Artur Szalpuk’s service ace it was 21:20 for the White and Reds. However, Ukraine did not allow the break: Yanchuk responded with an ace at the key moment, and a moment later the rivals took advantage of their attacking chances.

The ending provided great emotions. At 22:24, Płotnycki played a situational ball, giving Ukraine two set points. The Poles defended until the end, but the decisive point was scored by their rivals: they stopped Leon i with a block They equalized the match at 1:1.

VNL 2026. Poland – Ukraine. The block and serve made the difference

The third set was very even from the beginning. Ukraine tried to take the initiative, and Plotnytsky and Tupchii regularly scored points in attack, but the Poles responded with effective blocking and counter-attack play.

In the second part of the match, Nikola Grbic’s players started to build an advantage. Tupchii had a lot of trouble breaking through the Polish defense. Ukraine still tried to chase the result, but after Bartłomiej Bołądź’s diagonal attack and Kamil Semeniuk’s effective action, the Poles approached the end with a safe lead.

The end belonged to our team. Kamil Semeniuk improved Artur Szalpuk, winning the set ball, and a moment later Tupchii scored from the second line. The Poles won the set 25:20 and took the lead in the match again.

League of Nations. Poles knocked Ukraine out of the fight for the final

After a close start to the fourth set, the White and Reds showed that they clearly wanted to end the match. Tomasz Fornal stopped his opponents with a block, and the counterattack signaled the attack (6:2). Ukraine increasingly had to chase the result.

It was a set under complete control of the Poles. Nikola Grbic’s players consistently built their advantage, which increased to 7 points (21:14) in the final part of the set. Ultimately, the fourth set went to the Poles (25:17) and our team will fight for the VNL 2026 medals and the defense of the title.

In the semi-final, the Poles’ rival will be the Slovenian national team. The match will be played on Saturday, August 1 at 9 a.m. Polish time.