Volleyball.it Daily Roundup - July 29, 2026

Volleyball.it spent July 29, 2026 on two clear fronts: the men’s Volleyball Nations League Finals in Ningbo and the first structural updates for the next domestic season. The international side of the day revolved around Italy, which reached the eve of its quarterfinal against the United States after an extended work block between Japan and China. Around the Azzurri’s preparation, the opening two knockout matches reshaped the bracket, with Slovenia and Japan booking their places in the semifinals. On the Italian women’s club front, Volleyball.it also reported the main outlines of the new Serie A2 campaign, which will return to a single-round format.

VNL Finals

Italy will face the United States on Thursday, July 30 at 9 a.m. Italian time at the Beilun Sports and Arts Centre in Ningbo, with a semifinal place at stake. Volleyball.it reported that the Azzurri arrived at this stage after several days of work in Asia, including training in Osaka with the Japanese national team and a friendly against Japan’s B team for the players who had seen less match time. The site framed that extra week as a way to sharpen both physical recovery and match rhythm before the knockout phase.

On the eve of the match, head coach Ferdinando De Giorgi said the team had tried to use every available day in the best possible way and described the quarterfinal as a balanced match. According to Volleyball.it, De Giorgi stressed that the Americans have changed some elements but still keep their main players, and that Italy will need the right reading of the match as much as technical preparation. He also called the VNL an important stage in building the squad that will later play the season’s main target, the European Championship. Middle blocker Giovanni Sanguinetti added that Italy arrives in good condition after the longer stay in Japan and said the team will have to be better than the United States in key phases such as serve and reception if it wants to advance.

The bracket had already started to move earlier in the day. Slovenia, coached by Fabio Soli, became the first semifinalist by beating Turkey 3-0 with set scores of 25-21, 35-33, 39-37. Volleyball.it underlined that the result looked clearer on paper than it was on court, because the second and third sets turned into long battles decided only in extra points. Rok Možič led Slovenia with 25 points, while Nik Mujanović added 20 and helped decisively from the service line. The report also highlighted Slovenia’s wall work, credited with 19 team blocks. For Turkey, Adis Lagumdzija finished as top scorer with 21 points.

Later, Japan remained unbeaten in the tournament by defeating host nation China 3-1 in front of 5,763 spectators. After losing the first set 23-25, Japan came back through 25-23, 25-16, 25-23 to secure the other semifinal place on that side of the draw. Volleyball.it identified Ran as the main figure with 21 points, supported by Larry and Yuji Nishida with 13 each and Shoma Tomita with 10. The article also noted that Yuki Ishikawa played only the first two sets and scored five points. As a team, Japan made the difference particularly at the net, finishing with 14 winning blocks along with 56% attacking efficiency and four aces. That result set up the semifinal against Slovenia, while China dropped into the match for third place against Turkey.

Italian Volleyball

Outside the VNL court, Volleyball.it also tracked a significant domestic planning update in the women’s game. The site reported that the LVF A2 Fineco calendar for the 2026-27 season will be published on Thursday, July 30, confirming at the same time the competition’s basic structure. The main novelty is the return to a single round-robin group: the 17 admitted teams will play a symmetrical regular season over 34 matchdays, starting on October 3-4 and ending on April 10-11.

Volleyball.it added that each club will have one bye in the first half and one in the second half, with six midweek rounds already fixed between October and March and a long winter pause from December 27 to January 6. The first-place team will earn direct promotion to Serie A1, while teams from second to ninth will enter the playoffs to assign the second promotion. The article also explained that the relegation picture remains linked to the final placing of Club Italia: depending on whether the federal team finishes twelfth or higher, or lower than twelfth, the number and mechanism of relegations toward Serie A3 will change. It is an administrative story rather than a match report, but it was one of the day’s clearest indicators of how the next Italian season is already being shaped.