Poland outmuscle Japan to triumph in Olympic return

Poland got to celebrate a victory in the women’s volleyball tournament of the Olympics again after 16 years on Sunday as the Europeans came from behind to overcome Japan 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-23, 28-26) in the team’s opening match at the Paris 2024 Games.

The Pool B duel held at the South Paris Arena 1 in front of a loud and massive crowd gave the Polish, who are back in the Games for the first time since Beijing 2008, their first three points in the tournament – the Europeans also collected 7.46 FIVB World Ranking points, passing Türkiye to rise to third place with 372.85.

In order to come back and defeat the Japanese, who are seventh in the world with 330.89, the Europeans relied on their height average, which was 16cm higher than their opponents (1.86m to 1.70m).

Accordingly, the team’s two tallest players, 2m-tall middle blocker Agnieszka Korneluk, with 20 points (12 kills, eight blocks), and 2,03m-tall opposite Magdalena Stysiak, with 18 (17 kills, one block), were its main scorers in the match.

"It was very emotional, we were waiting for this match for so long and when we heard our national anthem, it was like a dream come true," said outside hitter Natalia Medrzyk, who scored 11 points. "We expected this match to be tough, but it was much harder than I thought. We are taller, but they are excellent defenders and we needed a lot of patience against them to understand that we would almost never score in our first attempt and that we'd need to find solutions to put the ball down. I think our blocking was excellent too. It's great that we got to start with a win and we'll try to get more."

Stronger at the net, the Polish outscored the Japanese in blocks by 14 to four - their opponents were better in kills (66 to 55) and aces (five to three).

Japan had the match's top scorer in captain Sarina Koga, who produced 26 points (25 kills, one block). Outside hitter Mayu Ishikawa, with 16 points, and opposite Yukiko Wada, who came off the bench to add 13, also had solid performances.

"The first set went really well for us, but once their blocking got better things became more complicated," Koga reflected. "They got several blocks and we couldn't find many answers. We had our chance to come back in the third and fourth sets, but we made some errors that we could have avoided. We had a talk after the match and I'm sure we'll remain motivated and confident four our next matches."

The teams exchanged points at the start of the first set until Stysiak got a block to give Poland an 11-9 lead. Japan counted on back-to-back swings from their two main players, Ishikawa and Koga, to go ahead at 16-15. A block by Ayaka Araki gave the Asians a two-point lead at 20-18 and they were able to build from it to win the set 25-20 with a swing by Koga.

The Japanese captain continued on fire at the start of the second set and hit the line with a backcourt spike to score 9-7. Right after that, the Polish went on a good run, with captain Korneluk getting a pair of blocks, and jumped ahead 13-10. Their lead didn’t last long as Japan won a couple of points and tied it 14-14, but a timely ace from Medrzyk created a two-point (20-18) separation that the Europeans were able to preserve until they won the set 25-22.

The Polish continued to roll and scored the first three points in the third set. Their game continued to flow well and with that their lead improved to 15-9 with a swing by Korneluk and then 19-11 with a block by Medrzyk. In the end, despite of a strong late Japanese push, the Europeans triumphed 25-23 with a backcourt swing by Stysiak.

Japan had the better start in the fourth set and counted on an ace from substitute Airi Miyabe to go ahead 6-3. With Korneluk dominating the net and getting back-to-back blocks, the Polish took the lead at 11-10. Japan managed to level the score at 23 points and both teams had set points, but Poland were better in the decisive moments and managed to win the set 28-26 with an ace from Martyna Czyrniańska to take the match.

Paris 2024 – Match Schedule and Results

Both teams will have a few days to prepare for their matches at the Paris 2024 Games as Poland will face Kenya on Wednesday, at 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT), while Japan return to the court on Thursday, at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT) to play Brazil.

Four women’s matches on Monday

The Paris 2024 women’s volleyball tournament started earlier on Sunday, with Italy defeating the Dominican Republic 3-1 in a Pool C match.

Monday’s entire four-match schedule at the South Paris Arena 1 will be filled with women’s duels, with Türkiye and the Netherlands meeting in Pool C at 9:00 local time (7:00 GMT), Brazil and Kenya playing in Pool B at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT), USA and China debuting in Pool A at 17:00 local time (15:00 GMT) and hosts France facing Serbia at 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT), also in Pool A.

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