China defeated Poland with a comeback in Nanjing and closed the first week of the VNL with a 3:1 victory
The Chinese women's volleyball national team concluded the first week of the regular season of the FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League 2026 with a valuable victory against Poland in Nanjing. According to the official Volleyball World match report, the match played on June 7, 2026 ended with a 3:1 result for China, by sets 16:25, 25:18, 25:23 and 26:24. The duel was the final appearance of the Chinese and Polish national teams in the first competition week of the pool in Nanjing, and the result carried importance for both teams that went beyond the impression from the court itself. After an opening defeat and then two victories, China reached its third triumph, while Poland was stopped for the first time this season after a very good entry into the competition. In a match in which Poland convincingly opened the first set, the Chinese national team came back through more stable reception, better control of the closing stages and a significantly calmer game in the key points of the third and fourth sets.
Poland started authoritatively, China responded after the first set
According to the official match result, Poland won the first set 25:16 and thereby signaled the continuation of the winning streak with which it entered the encounter. Such a first-set score shows how much the Polish national team managed to impose the tempo in the opening phase and distance China from an equal finish. Still, the Chinese reaction was quick and substantial. The second set went to the home national team 25:18, which brought the match back into complete uncertainty and opened the way for a comeback. In the continuation, play was much tighter, and the decisive difference did not come from large runs, but from China's ability to close out sets at moments when the pressure was greatest.
The third set, finished 25:23, was the first of two key indicators of the change in the rhythm of the match. In that stretch, judging by the flow of the score itself, China managed to maintain a minimal advantage in the closing stage and use the momentum from the second set. For Poland, that was the moment when the match began to move away from the pattern from the start of the encounter, because the convincing first set had no continuation in terms of the result. The fourth set brought even more pronounced drama, and China's 26:24 victory meant that the duel would not be extended into a fifth set. Such an outcome is especially valuable for China because a 3:1 victory brings three points in the standings, while Poland, from a defeat without winning a second or third set in the overall result, did not add a point.
The standings after the first week show how important the victory was
According to the official Volleyball World standings after the matches of the first week, China, with a 3-1 record, took sixth place in the preliminary phase, with eight points, nine sets won and six lost. Poland remained immediately behind it, also with a 3-1 record, but with seven points and a set ratio of 10:7. That one-point difference comes from the scoring system in which 3:0 and 3:1 victories bring three points, while a 3:2 victory brings two points to the winner and one to the losing team. Poland won its first three matches in Nanjing, but two of those three triumphs were achieved in five sets, which explains why after the defeat to China it remained behind the home national team. In the early part of the competition, such details can be important because in the preliminary phase teams are seeking a place among the teams that advance to the finals.
The official standings after the first week had Brazil and Japan at the top with four victories each and 11 points each, while Italy, Czechia, the USA, China, Poland and Canada made up the rest of the zone that currently leads toward the final phase. Although this is only the first of three stages of the regular season, the VNL schedule leaves little room for long slumps. Each national team plays a total of 12 matches during the preliminary phase, so the initial points and set ratio quickly turn into an important criterion for later ranking. For China, the victory over Poland therefore had double value: it stopped an opponent that had been unbeaten until then and at the same time improved China's position after an unsuccessful opening against Czechia. For Poland, the defeat is not dramatic in terms of the overall record, but it interrupted a results streak that had given the impression of a very firm and stable start.
China recovered from defeat in the tournament opener
The Chinese national team did not open its home week in Nanjing ideally. According to the official Volleyball World schedule and results, China lost to Czechia 0:3 on June 3, by sets 20:25, 20:25 and 24:26. That defeat was particularly unpleasant because it came in front of the home crowd and because Czechia showed greater stability in the closing stages of all three sets. The Chinese response followed already the next day, June 4, when the home national team defeated Thailand 3:2, by sets 25:14, 24:26, 25:19, 23:25 and 15:7. That five-set victory had the importance of psychologically breaking the negative start, but it also showed that China was still looking for continuity throughout an entire match.
China's third appearance was more convincing in terms of the result. According to the official Volleyball World match report, China defeated Serbia 3:0 on June 6, all three sets by a score of 25:21. It was precisely that duel that created the foundation for the final step forward against Poland, because the Chinese national team had two victories and one defeat before the last match of the first week. The encounter with Poland was therefore not only a match against a high-quality European opponent, but also a test of whether China could turn the home week from an uncertain beginning into a positive results package. The 3:1 victory provided an affirmative answer and allowed the home team to leave Nanjing with eight points, which is a solid foundation in the race for the upper part of the table.
Poland stopped after three consecutive victories
Poland arrived in Nanjing with a reputation as one of the most stable national teams in this competition. In the schedule announcement, the FIVB pointed out that Poland was the bronze medalist in the previous three VNL seasons, which confirms the continuity of results in a format that requires squad depth and the ability to maintain form over several weeks. In this year's edition, Poland opened the competition on June 3 with a 3:2 victory against Belgium, by sets 25:20, 22:25, 25:23, 18:25 and 15:13. A day later, it defeated Czechia 3:0, by sets 25:22, 25:22 and 25:20, and then on June 5, in another long match, defeated Serbia 3:2, by sets 17:25, 25:19, 25:18, 22:25 and 17:15.
Such a streak showed that Poland has the ability to withstand physically and mentally demanding matches, especially those in five sets. However, the match against China also showed the other side of such a schedule: every drop in concentration in the closing stages can be costly, especially against a host that found balance after the opening set. Poland won the first set against China by a large margin, but after that it did not manage to win a single section. The third and fourth sets will remain especially important for analysis, because they ended with a total difference of only three points in China's favor. The 1:3 defeat does not erase Poland's good start, but it clearly shows that in the continuation of the regular season every 3:0 or 3:1 victory will carry additional weight compared with victories achieved only after five sets.
Nanjing as the first major center of the women's VNL season
The first week of the women's VNL 2026 season was played from June 3 to 7, and Nanjing was one of the three centers of the opening phase, alongside Quebec City and Brasília. According to the FIVB announcement about the schedule, the women's competition opened precisely in Nanjing with the match between Belgium and Poland, while the encounter between China and Poland was announced as one of the most prominent duels of the final day of that pool. Belgium, Czechia, Poland, Serbia, Thailand and host China competed in the Chinese pool, which created a very diverse group of styles and competitive ambitions. For China, the home court also meant additional pressure because the national team played in front of an audience that expects a high competitive standard. For Poland, Nanjing was the first test of confirming the status of a team that in recent years has regularly remained near the top of the VNL.
The competition format further increases the importance of such matches in the early phase. Volleyball World states that the preliminary phase brings together 18 women's national teams, and the standings are formed through three competition weeks. The best-placed teams enter the final phase, while the host of the finals has a guaranteed place. The FIVB announced that the women's VNL 2026 finals will be played in Macau from July 22 to 26, which gives the Chinese national team a special context, but does not reduce the importance of points in the preliminary phase. The better China is placed during the regular season, the more confidence and clearer indicators of form it will take into the finals. For the other national teams, including Poland, every match remains a direct fight for one of the places leading to the quarterfinals.
The continuation brings new tests in Ankara and Bangkok
After the end of the first week, the VNL 2026 continues with the second competition week from June 17 to 21. According to the schedule published by the FIVB, China will play the second week in Ankara, where matches against Germany, France, Brazil and Türkiye await it. That part of the schedule will be very demanding because it includes encounters with national teams of different profiles, from physically strong European teams to Brazil, which was at the top of the table after the first week. For China, the continuation will be an opportunity to confirm that the victory over Poland is not only the result of home momentum, but a sign of stabilization after the initial defeat to Czechia. The points from Nanjing are therefore important also as protection before a series of matches in which every lost set will affect the standings.
Poland continues the second week in Bangkok, where according to the published schedule its opponents are Bulgaria, Ukraine, the Netherlands and Canada. This is a schedule in which Poland can quickly regain the winning rhythm, but also a part of the competition in which it will no longer have the luxury of relying only on a good start to the season. The defeat to China showed that the Polish national team is vulnerable when the opponent takes control of the closing stages, so the continuation of the competition will be an important test of the reaction of Stefano Lavarini's coaching staff and the players who already played several long matches in the first week. In the context of the overall standings, Poland is still in the zone leading toward the finals, but the differences are small and it is difficult to expect the fight for the top eight to separate quickly. That is exactly why the match in Nanjing remains an important early signal: China won a big match, and Poland received its first reminder that in the VNL an advantage in form must be confirmed from day to day.
Sources:
- Volleyball World – official match report for China - Poland, result and sets in the VNL 2026. (link)
- Volleyball World – official standings of the women's preliminary phase after the first week of the VNL 2026. (link)
- Volleyball World – official match report for China - Czechia in the first week of the VNL 2026. (link)
- Volleyball World – official match report for China - Thailand in the first week of the VNL 2026. (link)
- Volleyball World – official match report for China - Serbia in the first week of the VNL 2026. (link)
- Volleyball World – official match report for Belgium - Poland in the first week of the VNL 2026. (link)
- Volleyball World – official match report for Czechia - Poland in the first week of the VNL 2026. (link)
- Volleyball World – official match report for Serbia - Poland in the first week of the VNL 2026. (link)
- FIVB – announcement of the VNL 2026 schedule, competition context, first week and finals in Macau. (link)
- Volleyball World – official announcement of the pools and host cities of the VNL 2026. (link)