Poland master huge comeback to beat Slovenia

Poland started off their men’s Volleyball Nations League 2023 Pool 6 campaign with a huge comeback win over Slovenia in Pasay City on Wednesday. Improving to a 7-2 win-loss record and 16 points, they climbed to number three in the current standings. On 6-3 and 19, Slovenia stand fifth.

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Outside hitter Aleksander Sliwka was one of several Polish stars, along with setter Marcin Janusz, opposite Lukasz Kaczmarek and libero Jakub Popiwczak, who appeared in VNL 2023 action for the first time in this match, and finished as one of the top scorers of the game, sharing the honours with Slovenia’s Klemen Cebulj on 20 points each.

A Sliwka ace highlighted a series of six points that gave Poland an 11-7 lead in the first set. They stayed in control for most of the rest of the set until Slovenia finally caught up at 24-24 to push the set deep into overtime. After several set points saved on both sides of the net, Rok Mozic hammered the 31-29 winner Slovenia’s way. Clearly outplaying their opponents in offence in the second set, the Slovenians took over the scoreboard after 7-7 and never looked back. With Mozic on fire with eight points, they cruised on to a comfortable 25-21 close.

Stepping up their spiking efforts, Poland scored five in a row to break away with an 8-4 lead in set three and then stayed in control through the rest of the set to win it by 25-20. Continuing with their great distribution in offence in the fourth set, the Poles took permanent control of the scoreboard after 12-12. The Slovenians kept relatively close behind until 22-20, after which successful spikes by Sliwka and Bartosz Bednorz were crowned by a two-men kill block from Bednorz and Mateusz Bieniek to close the set at another 25-20 and level the match. Only for a moment half way through the tie-breaker Slovenia managed to step in front in the score. Poland kept a slight lead the rest of the time until a high-flying Bednorz nailed the 15-13 winner with a pulverizing pipe.

“We always have tough games against Slovenia. We have some history together. They always fight until the end and they showed it, especially in the first set,” Aleksander Sliwka commented after the game. “But we won the game and we are really happy that we showed enough quality to beat them. We were just trying to play every single ball like it’s the last, to fight for every ball and stick to the tactics, and it worked. Many of our guys played today and had impact in this win.”

Slovenia’s next match is against China on Thursday at 19:00 local time (11:00 UTC), while Poland will take on Brazil on Friday at 11:00 (03:00).

Earlier on Wednesday, the Netherlands started their Pasay City week with a victory over Canada to up their win-loss record to 5-4 and stay in eighth place, just above the cut-off line for the Finals. Still under the threat of relegation, the Canadians are 14^th on 2-7 and five points. Dutch opposite and captain Nimir Abdel-Aziz produced the match high of 24 points, including two aces, while, also with two aces to his name, Ryan Sclater led Canada with 20 points.

On Tuesday, Japan became the first team to join hosts Poland with a secure spot in the Finals after a hard-fought double-comeback victory over Asian rivals China. They top the table, still unbeaten on a 9-0 win-loss record and 24 points, while China are also still under the threat of relegation, in 12^th place on 2-7 and six points. Chinese middle Li Yongzhen excelled in blocking with eight stuffs to his name. His teammate Zhang Jingyin delivered the match high of 21 points, while Japanese captain Yuki Ishikawa led the winners with 18 points.

Wednesday’s action continues with Pool 5 matches in Anaheim. Germany and Bulgaria will meet at 17:00 local time (midnight UTC) and hosts USA will take on Cuba at 20:30 (03:30 UTC on Thursday).

**Volleyball Nations League 2023: full schedule and results**

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