With five points obtained in their first two matches in Paris, the Europeans are in second place in the pool and will face leaders Italy, who have six, in their last match in the first phase, on Saturday, at 17:00 local time (15:00 GMT) – both teams are guaranteed in the quarterfinals. Brazil earned their first point in the tournament and will need to get the best possible result against Egypt on Friday, at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT), to maintain their hopes of advancing as one of the two best third-placed teams.
Celebrating his 31st birthday on the court on Wednesday – alongside setter Marcin Janusz, who turned 30 -, star outside hitter Wilfredo Leon was Poland’s main offensive weapon, registering a match-high 26 points (21 kills, three aces, two blocks), including the last two in the tie-breaker, both in aces. Middle blocker Jakub Kochanowski and outside hitter Kamil Semeniuk had 15 and 11, respectively.
"Qualifying today was very important for us," Leon said. "It's not like we're going to relax or anything, but it's good to get this out of the way. We were tested in a lot of different ways by Brazil and that's great for us, especially considering how we managed to continue in our path during the difficult moments and come back at the end. I feel like we're ready for whatever is to come now. Getting those two aces at the end was huge. We play better when our serving is working and I had gotten just one ace at that point and I knew that I needed more than that. I was lucky to have the opportunity of getting to the service line at that moment and was just feeling confident that I could get Brazil uncomfortable."
