Poland retained the men's Volleyball Nations League crown on Sunday, beating the United States 3-2 (25-21, 23-25, 25-27, 25-23, 15-10) in a dramatic final at the Ningbo Beilun Sports and Arts Center to claim the title for the third time, after 2023 and 2025. Their record in the competition now also includes one silver and three bronze medals. Almost six thousand fans watched outside hitter Tomasz Fornal be named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, while the Americans were left to settle for a fourth silver in four VNL finals played, in addition to one bronze.
The defending champions had the better of a tight opening set, edging it 25-21 behind two aces and five kills from Wilfredo Leon, the set ending on a long attack by opposite Cooper Robinson. The United States responded in the second, moving 17-13 clear before Poland recovered to lead 21-20. Jake Hanes' serving then swung the momentum back, and the USA took it 25-23 after a Fornal error on serve. Hanes was flawless in attack during the third set, and although Poland led for most of it, middle blocker Taylor Averill flipped the score to reach set point at 24-23, then converted himself with another kill for 27-25.
Poland refused to fold, staying in front for most of the fourth set without ever stretching the gap beyond two points. With the score level at 23-23, a first-tempo spike from Szymon Jakubiszak brought up set point, immediately converted by a monster block from Leon for 25-23. The tie-break was competitive only through 6-6: five straight points on setter Marcin Komenda's serve gave the champions a 13-7 lead, a block-out swing from Leon brought up championship point at 14-9, and the match finished on a Hanes hit that went wide for 15-10.