EuroVolleyM: Poland face Finland in Eight Finals in Gdansk

Reigning world champions Poland continue their journey to return to the top of the podium at the CEV EuroVolley Men after 12 years as the continent’s heavyweights face Finland at the start of the Eight Finals on Saturday, when the competition lands in Gdansk. Tokyo Olympic silver medalists Russia and EuroVolley’s sensation Ukraine will meet in the other match of the day.

It’s fair to say everything went right as planned for Poland on pool play. With all of its stars available, the Eagles made it through Pool A in Krakow undefeated, winning all of their five matches. Their fiercest meeting, as expected, was against defending champions Serbia and ended in a five-set victory for the hosts.

Even though head coach Vital Heyen heavily rotated his deep roster in some occasions, some Polish players still found opportunities to stand out. Most notably was 33-year-old middle blocker Piotr Nowakowski, who leads the EuroVolley in blocks with 22, as many as eight more than the second-placed in the list.

Heynen might also be satisfied with his setters as both Fabian Drzyzga (first, with 63.81%) and Grzegorz Lomacz (fourth, with 55.56%) are in the top five of their position’s efficiency ranking. Stars Wilfredo Leon and Bartosz Kurek were somewhat quiet on the pool phase, registering ‘just’ 65 and 49 points across the team’s five matches, but the prospect that they could be conserving some energy for the elimination round is a really scary one.

Finland, on the other hand, couldn’t afford the same luxury as the team lost one of its key players, setter Eemi Tervaportti, to injury after just two pool matches in Tampere. In his absence, 43-year-old Mikko Esko, who played his 300^th international match during the EuroVolley, stepped up in a big moment and led the Finnish to third victory in the tournament, a five-set win against Turkey that secured the team in the Eight Finals at the conclusion of pool play.

Finland enter the elimination round as the clear underdogs against Poland and will need to play their absolute best to cause a scene against the world champions. Opposite Urpo Sivula, the team’s top scorer with 91  points (22 of which against Turkey) and ranked fifth in the EuroVolley in that department, will need to continue in top form against one of the top blocking teams in the planet to give his team a chance of winning.