Polish volleyball players continue their winning streak at the latest Intercontinental League of Nations tournament in Pasay City. This time, the whites and reds defeated Canada 3:0, but it was not without great emotion. Thus, they scored the fifteenth victory against overseas rivals in the fifteenth official meeting under the aegis of the international federation (FIVB).
Canada’s volleyball players are theoretically weaker than Slovenians and Brazilians, but whites and reds can’t afford a discount. Coach Nikola Grbić changed the roster again, but that’s no surprise since Bartosz Kurek and Mateusz Bieniek are struggling with injuries and won’t be playing in this tournament. In this situation, the game was led by Grzegorz Łomacz with Łukasz Kaczmarek attacking, while Marcin Janusz and Wilfredo Leon appeared as attackers for the double changes. This variant worked more decently and the Cuban with a Polish passport scored valuable points.
The Canadians, although their skills were inferior to the Polish team, but they fought bravely and were able to play evenly in long fragments. And in the third set, they were leading by several points. And there was even a following episode, but again our volleyball players stood up to the pressure and showed character. It all went in three sets, and LN was rare this year.
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In the first set, the rivals led 13:11, but three “eyes” in a row allowed coach Grbic’s charges to take the lead. Everything was settled in the end. Leon’s two points give us a 23:20 lead. And the next two winning points were scored by the ZAKSY duo: Kaczmarek – Śliwka. And in the next, the game was once again and a lot of emotions in the final fragments. The Canadians took risks in the service box and profited a lot. Our party looked average (only 38% efficiency). But it was the blocking that decided the game. With this element, we scored the last two points, and in total we stopped our opponents six times, with their two points. In the third set, the volleyball players of the “Maple Leaf” led by four points (13:9 and 20:16) and there was concern whether the whites and reds would be able to reverse their fate. And yet it happened. The end was very exciting, because after Leon’s service ace, we led to a draw 22:22. However, after Huber blocked, we took a 24:23 lead. Arthur Szwarc led to a draw and Brodie Hofer’s ace put the rivals ahead 25:24. However, the last word belonged to Semeniuk (attack and winning block) and Kłos.
These victories allowed the whites and reds to climb to second place in the standings. And on Sunday, the match against the leader – Japan.
Poland – Canada 3-0 (25:21, 25:23, 27:25)
POLAND: Łomacz (2), Plum (8), Kłos (7), Kaczmarek (10), Semeniuk (1), Huber (11), Popowiczak (libero) and Leon (6), Janusz, Bednorz. Coach Nikola GRBIĆ
CANADA: Walsh (2), Hofer (9), Eshenko (1), Szwarc (16), Cooper (19), Van Berkel (3), Lui (libero) and Hoag, Elser. Coach Tuomas SAMMELVUO
Judge : David Fuentes Fernandez (Spain) and Erdal Akinci (Türkiye).
The course of the game
- AND: 8:10 a.m., 3:14 p.m., 8:18 p.m., 10:21 p.m.
- II: 10:8, 15:10, 20:17, 25:23.
- III: 8:10 a.m., 1:15 p.m., 4:20 p.m., 11:25 p.m.
Character -Norbert HUBER.
In the photo: After a year’s absence, Norbert Huber has returned to the national team in spectacular style.
photo. Marcin Bulanda/PressFocus
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