USA and Canada with Victories, Cuba suffers first loss in Week 3

July 19, 2025.- The United States earned their second win in Week 3 of Men’s VNL 2025 on Friday, while Canada got their first win and moved away from relegation. Cuba broke their winning streak and lost their first match of the week.

USA beat Argentina and surpass them in race for VNL Finals

Robinson leads the Americans to victory despite an impressive 30 points from Kukartsev.

USA made an important step in the race for the spots in the men’s Volleyball Nations League Finals. In Friday’s opening game in Chiba, Japan, they beat one of their direct rivals for qualification – Argentina – in four sets and rose to ninth place in the current VNL standings, on a 6-4 win-loss record and 16 points. In the heated race for the quarterfinal vacancies, the Americans are one of the five teams with six wins each, lined up in the places from fifth to ninth. Argentina, on the other hand, dropped to 11th place on 5-5 and 14, but are still well in contention for the tickets to Ningbo.

USA capitalized mostly on the many unforced errors by their South American opponents to earn a 3-1 (25-23, 20-25, 25-20, 25-23) victory. 22-year-old outside hitter Cooper Robinson led the way to success with 20 points to his name, including the match winner. To his 18 kills in attack, he added one ace and one kill block. Middle blocker Merrick McHenry impressed with a 79% success rate in attack. He authored two of USA’s six aces in the match to finish with 13 points. So did opposite Kyle Ensing.

“This was super fun! We had some great energy on the court. It was really great to play with some of the guys again, so I had a blast! It was a very important win. We needed to win this one. If we had lost, we would have been out of contention, so this was a huge win,” Robinson told VBTV. “The crowd here is amazing! I love all these fans. They are so energetic and passionate about the game of volleyball, so I can’t wait to play here next year.”

Cooper Robinson USA

France stop Cuba in Gdańsk

In Gdańsk, defending champions France showed strength to hand Cuba their first upset at the Ergo Arena after back-to-back victories this week, winning the match between the teams 3-2 (20-25, 25-15, 23-25, 25-21, 15-9).

The victory took the reigning Olympic champions to third place in the VNL standings, with seven wins and 20 points. Cuba continue inside the qualification zone, in sixth place, with six victories and 19 points.

Opposite Théo Faure topped all scorers, with 20 points (19 kills, one ace) registered, two more than outside hitter Trévor Clévenot, who left the court with 14 kills, three aces and one block to his name.

“We’re very happy because it was a very difficult and important match,” outside hitter Mathis Henno said. “We know Cuba have a great team and we tried to push against them. It was not easy, but we got the result and we’re proud of it.”

Opposite Jose Masso, who delivered 17 points (13 kills, three aces, one block), and outside hitters Marlon Yant and Miguel Ángel López, who scored 16 and 14, respectively, were Cuba’s most productive offensive weapons.

Cuba attack

Canada defeated the Netherlands

Canada earned a 3-0 victory (25-22, 25-20, 25-15) over the Netherlands this Friday, securing their first win of the week and fourth overall in the tournament. With the result, Canada moved further away from the relegation zone and climbed to 14th place.

The Canadians outperformed the Europeans throughout the match. They led in attacks (43-35), dominated in blocks (5-1), and had the edge in service points (2-0). It was a closely contested match with few unforced errors, Canada committed 21, while the Dutch made 25.

Xander Ketrzynski was Canada’s top offensive player, scoring 16 points, 15 of them from attacks. Isaac Heslinga contributed 12 points (11 from attacks), while team captain Fynnian McCarthy added 10 points (7 attacks, 1 block, and 2 aces).

Canada celebrates

Schedule of matches on Saturday July 19

Cuba has the day off. In Japan, the U.S. plays against Germany at 7:30 PM (local time). In Slovenia, Canada faces Serbia at 4:30 PM (local time).

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