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Poland began the match in other-than-usual starting lineup, without Leon, Kubiak, Drzyzga and Kurek. Greece was off to a slightly better start and led 5-2, before two serving aces by Kaczmarek evened out the score. Poland pressed on with powerful and accurate serving, while the Greeks could not find much success in attack. The home team scored series of points and arrived at the end of the set with a 10 point advantage.

After sides were switched, it became apparent that team Hellas decided to take an “all or nothing” approach at the service line. Errors were frequent but those serves that arrived on the opponents’ side did cause trouble to Poland’s receivers. An ace by Zoupani put his team on a 7-5 lead and their now efficient attack kept them a step ahead of the Poles. At 19-all Drzyzga and Kurek reinforced the Polish squad. This seemed to have thrown Greece off the track as they gave away the last points of the set for free (25:22).

Poland made its own share of errors after the break, including those in spiking and serving, while Greece marched on to a 10-5 lead. Vital Heynen let Leon onto the court and followed it up with a double substitution not long after. Good blocking by Kurek and Nowakowski coupled with Leon’s serving closed the gap to an extent (12-15). However, even with a 100% of Poland’s starting six substituted by the end of the set, Greece managed to do their job well enough to stay in the match with five points on the hosts.

Poland quickly gained a 5-point advantage in set No. 4, but began losing momentum at 12-7 mark, letting the Greek players bounce back and catch up at 16-all. After a block on Nowakowski Greece lead 20-19 and a tie-breaker was looming. The finale of the set was quite nervous, with prolonged video challenges adding to the uncertainty of the final result but Wilfredo ended the match on a high note, with a spike from the left wing (26-24).