Italy, USA and Poland remain alive on the Road to Paris

It will all come down to the last day at the Pool C of the Volleyball Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Łódź as Italy, the United States and hosts Poland all remain alive in the race for the two tickets to the Paris 2024 Games after the conclusion of Saturday’s schedule.

The decision will come on Sunday, when the United States will face Germany, who are no longer in contention, at 17:30 local time (15:30 UTC), and Poland will meet Italy at 20:30 local time (18:30 UTC).

• Watch all the matches of the Volleyball Olympic Qualifying Tournament on **VBTV.**

All three teams have the same exact campaign of five wins and one loss, having collected 15 points so far – considering the tie-breakers, Italy are first, USA second and Poland third. The Americans need a win against the Germans to qualify, while the winners of the duel between Poland and Italy will be among the top two teams in the tournament – there’s also a scenario in which the two European national teams secure the spots.

Italy jumped to the top of the standings with a dominant 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-15) win over Germany, in what was arguably their best performance in the tournament so far and also served as a strong comeback after the Italians fell to the United States on Friday, getting their only upset on the event.

Playing her first international tournament with the Italian team, 20-year-old opposite Ekaterina Antropova had another outstanding performance, leading the team with 24 points (19 kills, three blocks, two aces). Team captain and outside hitter Myriam Sylla tallied 12 (all in kills), also getting to double digits in scoring. On the German side, outside hitter Lena Stigrot was the most effective, with 18 points (17 kills, one ace).

“We were very aggressive and played with a lot of determination,” Sylla remarked. “Tomorrow it’s going to be a beautiful match against the home team and they will be able to count on the support of their fans. We lost to Poland in the Volleyball Nations League when we didn’t play well at all and this time we’ll try and put on a great performance and qualify to Paris. We picked up a few things from that match and hopefully they will help us this time.”

Volleyball Olympic Qualifying Tournaments: schedule and results

Hosts Poland entered the weekend with their backs against the wall and stepped up to secure a massive 3-1 (27-25, 16-25, 25-23, 25-16) victory against reigning Olympic champions the United States that kept them in the race for qualification.

The top scorer of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, star opposite Magdalena Stysiak produced 25 points (20 kills, four blocks, one ace), getting significant help from outside hitters Martyna Lukasic and Olivia Rozanski, who added 12 apiece. The top American scorers were opposite Jordan Thompson and outside hitters Jordan Larson and Kelsey Robinson, with 16, 15 and 14 points, respectively.

“I think today we were just better than the United States,” middle blocker Magdalena Jurczyk reacted. “We showed strength of character and that we can beat the best teams in the world. We lost a match (against Thailand) where we were probably the favorites, but we managed to come back and only strong teams can do it. We’re confident about a victory against Italy tomorrow. That’s our goal and we’ll fight for it.”

Also on Saturday in Łódź, Slovenia topped Colombia 3-2 (25-17, 19-25, 24-26, 25-18, 15-11) and Thailand swept Korea 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-16). All four teams were already eliminated from the competition for the Olympic spots.

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