Poland & Russia serve their way to the Quarter Finals
Results Wrap
Russia vs Ukraine (22-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-22)
One of the most anticipated matchups of the 8th finals, Russia vs Ukraine was a battle throughout. Ukraine winning the first set and keeping it tight in the next two gave some hope to those hoping to see the Olympic silver medalists dethroned. However, Russia managed important blocks, aces and defences in important moments and ended up winning a thrilling 4-set match.
Egor Kliuka was the leading scorer for Russia and the match, scoring 21 points including 4 clutch aces and 2 blocks. Middle blocker Yuri Semeniuk had an impressive 5 blocks for Ukraine.
Paweł Zatorski"It's amazing to play at a venue full of fans. The fans give us extra energy, so we always have to give everything in the game like this one. I think that we did our job, we progressed to the next phase, but now there are more difficult matches against opponents from the highest level, so we have to expect more resistance."
libero of Poland
Poland vs Finland (25-16. 25-16, 25-14)
Poland had the chance to play in front of a new home crowd as they traveled to Gdansk to face off against Finland. And just like in Krakow, Poland didn’t waste time taking care of their opponent. Finland managed to keep it cloe at the beginning of sets, but the service pressure from Poland allowed them to start creating gaps that were too much to overcome.
Poland scored 10 aces in the 3-set match, including three each from Wilfredo Leon & Michal Kubiak. Leon was also the leading scorer of the match with 14 points on 9 for 12 attacking.
Igor Kobzar"It was a tough match and a good fight. Ukraine surprised us a little bit, they showed good volleyball and they helped us a bit by making many mistakes. Our spike was a key to this victory and we are happy that we qualified to quarterfinals."
captain of Russia