Stysiak scores 29 as Poland overcome valiant Vietnam in World Champs debut

Poland found their from after a first-set hiccup and had a successful debut in the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Championship on Saturday in Phuket, overcoming a determined Vietnam team in the last match of the second day of action in Thailand.

Ranked third in the FIVB World Ranking, the Europeans were upset by the 22^nd-placed Asians in the first set, but got back on track and triumphed 3-1 (23-25, 25-10, 25-12, 25-22), taking all three points in their first Pool G match.

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Opposite Magdalena Stysiak had the second-most productive individual performance in the World Championship so far, producing an impressive 29 points, with 23 kills and an amazing six blocks. Middle blocker Agnieszka Korneluk and outside hitter Martyna Łukasic also contributed to the team’s comeback with 16 points each.

“The first match in a tournament like this is always complicated,” Stysiak commented. “We respect Vietnam a lot, and they did a good job, but the truth is that we played very badly in the first set. After that, we came back and got to play our volleyball, but we’ll take the lesson we learned in the first set for the important matches we’ll have here.”

Vietnam’s surprising performance was made possible by the 20 points (18 kills, one block, one ace) scored by outside hitter Vi Thị Như Quỳnh, the team’s top scorer in the match.

“We are happy to have played so well against one of the of the best teams in the world,” team captain and outside hitter Trần Thị Thanh Thúy, who registered six points, commented. “We have a good connection as a team and enjoyed the match very much. We came to the World Championship to learn more by playing against the stronger teams and to get more experience at this level.”

Poland’s strong offense made a difference for the Europeans, who outscored their opponents by 19 points in kills (64 to 45) - they also had more blocks (14 to five). Each side fired five aces and the difference was minimal in errors, with Poland earning 15 points and Vietnam 14.

Germany start strong and sweep Kenya

Fellow Europeans Germany also had a solid start to their Pool G campaign on Saturday and took down African champions Kenya 3-0 (25-22, 25-8, 25-20) in Phuket.

Lina Alsmeier and Emilia Weske were Germany’s leading scorers in the match, with each of them producing 13 points. The outside hitter got to the mark with 12 kills and one ace, while the opposite registered 11 kills and two blocks.

Kenyan outside hitter Veronica Adhiambo was the match’s top scorer, with 19 points produced, all in kills.

2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship: full schedule and results

Monday, the second day of matches in the pool, will have Germany meeting Vietnam at 17:00 local time (10:00 GMT) and Poland going against Kenya at 20:30 (13:30 GMT).

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