Slovenia, who exit the tournament but still get to celebrate a very positive first Olympic appearance, had in outside hitters Klemen Čebulj and Tine Urnaut, the team captain, their most productive players – they registered 16 and 13 points, respectively.
"Right now, we're a bit frustrated, but I think that when we sleep on it and realize how well we played, we have to be happy and proud with our performances," setter Gregor Ropret reflected. "Today Poland played an amazing match. They served very well, gave us really no room to breathe and kept us under constant pressure while making no mistakes. It was very important for us to be here in our first Olympics and continue to show that we can compete against the best teams in the world. There are definitely a lot of positives for us to take and I hope we keep growing so we can see Slovenia for a long time among the top teams."
The Polish serving was, indeed, the main difference between the teams as the European champions led their opponents in that skill by 12 points to five - their strong serves also helped generate Slovenian errors, which added up 32, against 24 of the winners. Poland also had the edge in blocks (six to four), while Slovenia registered more kills (52 to 49).
