La Polonia supera la Germania e conquista il primo pass per le finali della VNL

Poland became the first team to join hosts USA with a secure spot in the Volleyball Nations League 2023 Finals next month. In Thursday’s opening Pool 5 match in Suwon, they squeezed out a hard-fought victory over Germany to rise to the top of the current standings on an 8-2 win-loss record and 23 points. The Germans are not far behind, in fourth place on 7-3 and 20.

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L'opposto polacco Magdalena Stysiak e l'esterno tedesco Lina Alsmeier si sono divisi gli onori di top-scorer con 22 punti ciascuno, mentre la centrale polacca e capitano Agnieszka Korneluk ha impressionato con cinque blocchi di kills per un totale di 15 punti. La tedesca Hanna Orthmann ha chiuso con 19 punti. Camilla Weitzel e Lena Stigrot ne hanno aggiunti 16 ciascuna.

La Germania ha iniziato la partita con un parziale di 7-0, con Weitzel al servizio. Hanno continuato a dominare completamente il campo, bloccando e superando le avversarie fino a quando Stigrot non ha messo a segno il colpo vincente per un enfatico 25-15. La Polonia ha intensificato il suo blocco nel secondo set. Ha aperto un vantaggio di 7-1 e con Stysiak che ha guidato l'attacco ha proseguito fino a pareggiare la partita per 25-19. La centrale Magdalena Jurczyk ha vinto il set con una battuta vincente in primo tempo.

Germany took the early lead in set three, but soon Poland caught up and gained the initiative. The Germans held up through 13-13, after which their opponents broke away for good. 19-year-old outside Martyna Czyrnianska delivered three aces during the set, with one of which she closed it off at 25-19. With Weitzel on fire at the net, Germany scored five in a row to take an 8-4 lead in set four. Vastly improving their performance in offence, they stayed in front through the rest of the set until Alsmeier’s swing fixed the final 25-19.

The Germans recovered from an early Polish 6-3 lead to catch up and push the tie-breaker to overtime. They denied two opponent match points, but on the third one, Korneluk crowned her great performance in the set by killing the overpass for 17-15.

“Another tiebreak in less than 24 hours! It was a very tough game with a difficult team against us, but most importantly, we won!” said Korneluk after the match.

On Friday, Poland will take on Bulgaria at 12:00 local time (03:00 UTC) and Germany will face Serbia at 15:30 (06:30).

Thursday’s competition programme in Suwon continues with a match between USA and Bulgaria at 15:30 (06:30), followed by a game between Dominican Republic and hosts Korea at 19:00 (10:00). The day’s Pool 6 schedule in Bangkok includes games between Croatia and the Netherlands at 13:00 local time (06:00), between Brazil and Canada at 17:00 (10:00) and between Türkiye and hosts Thailand at 20:30 (13:30).

**Volleyball Nations League 2023: full schedule and results**

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