The Polish are now set to face defending champions Italy, who swept the United States earlier on Wednesday, in the semifinals on Saturday. The two remaining quarterfinal duels will be held on Thursday, with Japan and Türkiye playing at 16:30 local time (14:30 GMT) and Brazil and Germany facing off at 20:00 (18:00 GMT).
The fourth-best team in the Preliminary Phase, Poland counted on an outstanding performance from star opposite Magdalena Stysiak to triumph over the Chinese. The 24-year-old, 2.03m-tall scoring machine led her team with 25 points, produced with 22 kills and three blocks.
The Europeans saw many other players contribute to their massive comeback, most notably outside hitters Czyrniańska (16 points), Martyna Łukasic (11) and Paulina Damaske (11) and middle blocker and team captain Agnieszka Korneluk (13).
“This was an incredible team victory,” Stysiak remarked. “Everyone who came into the match helped the team a lot and that’s very important for us. The 14 of us are capable of helping, and everybody is giving their best every day, whether they’re on the court or not. We’re just one big team, and that’s incredible.”
