Korea put up a battle, but take only a set from Poland

Poland managed to hold down an assertive Korea as they met in a women’s Volleyball Nations League match in Chiba, Japan on Wednesday. The bronze medalists of the previous two VNL editions and hosts of this year’s Finals in two weeks took a four-set victory over their Asian opponents. They improved to an 8-1 win-loss record and 24 points and currently stand on top of the VNL table. Korea, on the other hand, remain second from the bottom, in 17^th place on 1-8 and 4, and under an imminent threat of relegation.

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The Koreans started the match well and outplayed their strong opponents in the first set. The Polish team got into rhythm and cruised through the next two sets. The fourth set, however, was very competitive and pushed to overtime. After opportunities to close it were missed on both sides of the net, finally a monster block by 22-year-old outside hitter Julita Piasecka put an end to the game at 3-1 (18-25, 25-19, 25-14, 28-26) Poland’s way.

The most solid blocking performance in the match came from middle Aleksandra Gryka, who put up five stuffs. After also firing two aces, Piasecka finished with 15 points. Opposite Malwina Smarzek chipped in with 20, while outside Martyna Lukasik shared the top scorer honors of the match with 22-year-old Korean opposite Seonwoo Lee on 21 points each. Middle Dahyeon Lee and outside and captain Sohwi Kang also reached the double digits on the Asians’ side with 13 points apiece.

“It’s never easy to restart after two weeks and, of course, the time zone isn’t helping, but these are just excuses,” Smarzek told VBTV. “Still, I am really proud of our team. Maybe one can say that our level of volleyball wasn’t great, but also Korea played good volleyball and defended very well. We normally have problems with this kind of teams, because we lose patience. So good job for us, and also congrats to Korea!”

Next on the court in this first competition day in Chiba will be hosts Japan, who will wrap it up with a game against France at 19:20 local time (10:20 UTC). Wednesday’s VNL action will continue with the matches in Apeldoorn and Arlington.

Volleyball Nations League 2025: full schedule and results

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