Poland’s outside hitter and captain Aleksander Sliwka contributed a team-high 20 points, all in swings. His cross-court teammate Artur Szalpuk added another 17, including one serving ace and one kill block. Opposite Bartlomiej Boladz also reached the double digits with 14 points for the winners. It was, in fact, the much fewer unforced errors that tilted the outcome the home team’s way. Poland made only 22 of those, against 36 from Turkiye.
“To be honest, we don’t like to play five sets. It’s not like we do it on purpose,” Sliwka joked in front of the VBTV camera. “But our opponents are very strong, so that’s what was needed – to play five. Congratulations to Turkiye, because they played really well and even though they were losing 2-1, in the fourth set they played with heart and courage, and they served pretty well. It was another fight and, once again, I have to say that without the Polish fans we wouldn’t be able to do that.”
While the two sides drew level in terms of kill blocks, with nine each, Turkiye outperformed the world’s number one in attack by 68-61 in spike kills and in serving by 5-4 in aces. Spiking 25 points at a 54% success rate, firing three aces and raising three kill blocks, Turkiye’s opposite Adis Lagumdzija was by far the best scorer of the game with a total of 31 points under his belt. Middle blocker Bedirhan Bulbul, 21-year-old outside Gokcen Yuksel and middle Ahmet Tumer put away another 17, 14 and 11 points, respectively, for the team from the Mediterranean.
“I think we did a great job. We made some simple mistakes that cost us. But this is volleyball – the team that makes fewer mistakes wins the game,” said Lagumdzija. “In the end, we played against the number one team in the world and we played a good game. Everybody is sad, because with the points we could get here, we could have been a top 10 team in the world, which is a goal for us, because we want to go to the Olympic Games with this team. So, I think we are on a good path to do that. I am proud of the team. We are increasing our level day by day, and I hope we keep improving and one day become one of the best.”
