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Current world champions Poland defeated the US 3:1 (23:25, 25:21, 25:19, 25:21) in Katowice, southern Poland to secure top spot in Group C of the World Championship. The defending champions defeated one of the strongest teams in the world with panache.
Both the Poles and the Americans had not dropped a set in the lead, following their ties with Bulgaria and Mexico respectively. Tuesday’s match in the Katowice Spodek was therefore a showdown for first place in Group C.
After the group stage, the 16 teams will be seeded according to their results thus far. However, Poland and Slovenia, as co-hosts, will be seeded number one and two, meaning that they will theoretically face weaker opponents in the quarter finals.
Slow start
The world champions started Tuesday’s match well. The impressive Mateusz Bieniek helped give them a four-point lead (7:3). The Americans were kept at arm’s length by the hosts (12:8). However, John Speraw’s (US coach) team did not give up the chase, and a block of a Kamil Semeniuk’s strike, saw the scoreboard tied 12:12.
The visitors took the lead for the first time when Paweł Zatorski missed David Smith’s serve (15:16). The opening set came to an exciting close, with the Americans edging it, largely assisted by some fine work by reserve Kyle Russell (23:25).
Poles did not hang their heads
The loss of the first set did not faze the Poles. The second set ran a similar course for a long period – the White and Reds were first to take the lead, but their opponents caught up with them. US player TJ DeFalco assisted in pulling his country level (10:10). The game was finely balanced for a while – but a Bartosz Kurek ace gave the hosts a three-point lead, but the US were level again in no time, with a brilliant serve from Kyle Russell (19:19).
The end of the set, however, was dominated by the Poles. Bieniek impressed in attack, and the match was levelled by reserve Tomasz Fornal, who broke the American block (25:21).
The champions took the initiative
Poland really came into their own in the third set. Semeniuk was excellent in attack (10:7), as was Kurek, who elevated them into a five-point lead (15:10). The Americans were not able to catch up, despite their coach calling several timeouts.
Fornal provided the decisive point to take the set (25:19), which saw defending champions move closer to an important victory.
Fornal ended the match
Aaron Russell gave the US a two point advantage after the opening exchanges of the fourth set (5:7). However, the Polish team swiftly roared back and the game was played point for point, with neither team able to pull away by more than two points. To the frustration of the US team and their coach, who picked up a yellow card for dissent, Poland started to gain the upperhand. The match was settled by Fornal, who scored with an attack from the wing (25:21).
Poland are now guaranteed to top spot in the group and the number one seed in the knockout stage. Their quarter final opponents will be revealed on Wednesday.
source:
Polskie Radio
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