Vietnam men's volleyball team enters AVC Nations Cup quarterfinals after just 1 match

On the evening of June 18, the Vietnamese men's volleyball team defeated New Zealand 3-0 in the opening match of Group D of the AVC Nations Cup 2025.

The men's volleyball team advanced to the quarterfinals despite facing many difficulties against New Zealand - Photo: AVC

In the world rankings before this match, the Vietnamese men's volleyball team ranked 56th. Meanwhile, New Zealand was not even ranked by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB).

But being an unknown, the team from Oceania caused quite a few difficulties. Their advantage came from their tall players, in which the shortest player was libero Scott Lipton, who was 1.85m tall.

This caused the Vietnamese volleyball team to run into trouble right from the first set. Many of their attacks were met with a huge block from the opponent. The two teams fought each other intensely until the last point of the game.

In difficult circumstances, the diverse coordination ability of setter Dinh Van Duy was brought into play. Thanks to that, main attacker Ngoc Thuan and opposite setter Quoc Duy had many brave finishing situations.

The ability to serve and break the first set of the Vietnamese volleyball team also contributed significantly. There was a time when it seemed like they had broken away when leading 18-14, but New Zealand hung on fiercely to reduce the score to 21-20. However, in the end, the team of coach Tran Dinh Tien overcame the difficulties with a 25-23 victory in set 1.

In set 2, the Vietnamese team started off shakily and fell behind 0-3. They then found common ground to tie the score at 5-5. Set 2 continued to be a tug-of-war until the final points and Quan Trong Nghia's powerful smash brought victory 25-22.

In set 3, New Zealand could no longer maintain their highest fighting spirit. Thanks to that, coach Tran Dinh Tien's team won 25-15 to end the match.

With this victory, the Vietnamese men's volleyball team officially has a ticket to the quarterfinals of the AVC Nations Cup 2025 despite only playing one match. Group D has only 3 teams, and New Zealand has lost both matches.

Thanks to that, today's victory helps the Southeast Asian representative along with Korea secure a place in the top 2 teams and win a ticket to the quarterfinals of the AVC Nations Cup 2025. The match between the two teams on June 19 will determine the first and second positions in the group.

DUC KHUE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bong-chuyen-nam-viet-nam-vao-tu-ket-avc-nations-cup-chi-sau-1-tran-2025061822283232.htm