The Nice Wall of Polska.
Poland had only one extra block than the USA, however they appeared to come back at key moments Sunday, particularly on match level, when Jakub Kochanoweki stuffed the assault by Thomas Jaeschke to offer his crew the Volleyball Nations League gold medal.
It capped a 25-23, 24-26, 25-18, 25-18 house victory over the Individuals earlier than a sold-out crowd of greater than 11,000 in Gdansk, Poland. It was Poland’s first gold within the five-year historical past of VNL.
Poland completed 13-2 in a match that started with the ladies’s first spherical on Could 30. The USA males performed three rounds, in Ottawa, Canada; Rotterdam, Netherlands; and Anaheim, California, compiling a file of 10-2. Within the quarterfinals Wednesday, the knocked out France in 5, and in Saturday’s semifinals swept Italy.
Japan (12-3) beat Italy (10-5) in 4 units within the bronze-medal match.
Poland overpowers USA
“We’re fairly disillusioned as a result of we had a pleasant alternative to win VNL and got here up brief,” USA coach John Speraw stated.
“I do assume there have been a variety of positives to construct on over the course of the match and rather a lot to be discovered from tonight’s match. It’s good to be in championship matches. You be taught a lot from each playoff run and I feel this crew discovered that we’re very able to successful tournaments and that we have now a variety of room to enhance.”
Reverse Lukasz Kaczmarek, in for injured crew captain Bartosz Kurek, in led his crew with 23 kills, a block and an ace. Aleksander Sliwka had 13 kills, six digs and a block, and Kochanowski added 4 kills and an ace. Tomasz Fornal had seven kills and a block and Wilfredo Leon had three kills, two blocks and two aces.
Poland led in kills (59-51), blocks (9-8) and aces (7-3).
“Poland performed nice. Kaczmarek had an unimaginable match and we couldn’t work out the way to cease him,” Speraw stated. “It’s irritating, however on the finish of the day he performed nice.
“They usually served the ball actually, very well. Offensively they have been troublesome to decelerate.”
TJ DeFalco led the USA with 13 kills, an ace and 7 digs. Aaron Russell had 9 kills and two blocks and Matt Anerson had 9 kills and an ace.
Jaeschke had seven kills, two blocks and 5 digs, and Max Holt had 4 kills and three blocks. David Smith had six kills.
The USA additionally misplaced in final 12 months’s VNL closing to France.
Subsequent up the USA is the host for the NORCECA Championship from September 3-11.
“We’ll consider and prepare as we head into NORCECA,” Speraw stated.
Then on the finish of the month, the Individuals go to Japan to compete within the Pool B of the Street to Paris Olympic qualifier, the place they’ll face the hosts, Slovenia, Serbia, Türkiye, Tunisia, Egypt and Finland.
Poland goes to the European Championship in Bulgaria, Israel, Italy and North Macedonia from August 18-26.
Japan captures bronze
Japan gained the primary two units, Italy rallied, after which Japan got here away with a 25-18, 25-23, 17-25, 17-25, 15-9 victory.
It was a typical match for scrappy Japan, outblocked 13-4. Japan had a 54-53 kills benefit and a 9-7 lead in aces.
Yuki Ishikaway capped a unbelievable VNL for him with 21 kills. Kento Miyaura, in at reverse for injured Yuji Nishida, had 12 kills, a block and a whopping seven aces. Ran Takahashi had 11 kills and a block. Akihiro Yamauchi had seven kills, two blocks and and an ace.
This was Japan’s first medal within the 5-year-old match and its first in a global match since 2009 when it gained bronze within the FIVB Grand Champions Cup.
Italy’s Yuri Romano had 14 kills and a block. Alessandro Michieletto had 11 kills, a block and 4 aces, and Daniele Lavia had 11 kills and three blocks. Roberto Russo added eight kills and three blocks and Gianluca Galassi had three kills, 5 blocks and an ace.
Japan performs subsequent within the Asian Championship, August 18-26 in Iran.
Italy performs the identical week because the host for the European Championship.
