Athens 2004 – Brazil 0:3
Beijing 2008 – Italy 2:3 (15:17 in tiebreak)
London 2012 – Russia 0:3
Rio de Janeiro 2016 – USA 0:3
Tokyo 2021 – France 2:3 (9:15 in tiebreak)
And finally WE HAVE IT. Polish volleyball players have broken the “quarter-final curse” of the Olympic Games. They won the match that gives us advancement to the medal zone. In the sixth match in a row at this stage of the Olympic Games, Poland defeated Slovenia 3:1! In the semi-finals, they will face the winners of the Brazil-USA match.
– Okay, we’re just getting started – that’s how Bartosz Kurek summed up the match with Slovenia, making it clear that the games are just starting, that they’re now starting to fight for what they came to Paris for. And they came for gold! – How much did this match cost me? 0! Those years after the defeats in Rio or Beijing cost us – our striker added in an interview with Eurosport.
The great return of the Hen
Our ATTACKER. Because we finally had an attacker in this match! And like an attacker. We believed, waited, wrote even after the lost match with Italy, in which Poland practically did not exist for long moments, that Bartosz would be reborn. In the match with Egypt he attacked with 25% effectiveness, in the match with Brazil 29%, with Italy it was already 35%. That’s when we wrote that Bartosz’s slowly improving form was the only positive from the clash with Italy.
And finally it’s here! 47% effectiveness. 38 attacks, 18 finished, four mistakes, once blocked. In such a match, with such defending opponents, with such stakes and emotional charge, it’s cosmic.
Bartek didn’t stop in this match, he didn’t calculate. He believed in himself until the end. He wasn’t afraid to take risks on the serve, for which he was even criticized a few times by our commentators Wojciech Drzyzga and Tomasz Swędrowski. But in the end he got a reward for his courage, in the fourth set he scored an ace for 17:13.
We have to add one more thing about Kurek – the captain of #GanguŁysego. DEFENSE. Bartek, like the whole team, defended brilliantly. He touched the ball 14 times in defense. We launched an effective attack from four of his passes. This is of course not the best result in the team, because the whole team defended PHENOMENALLY in this match, but these were spectacular defenses.
Leon’s Horse Day
In the entire match, Bartosz scored 19 points. Wilfredo Leon scored more, but only by one. Our receiver finally had a “horse’s day” on the serve. It was Leon who set up game number three. A very important one. Because we lost set number two, although we were already leading 23:21. And the Slovenians could have entered the wave at that moment. They didn’t. We put them out from the beginning of the third set. Because first Bieniek served an ace (3:0), and then Leon had a brilliant series for 8:3, 9:3, 10:3. We didn’t give up this lead until the end. Leon served five aces in total. This is not his record yet – in the Italian league he had seven points from the serve, and six happened to him many times, but this is already a great result.
Leon attacked 34 times, which is a bit less than Kurek. He finished 14 balls and had 41% effectiveness, made three mistakes, was blocked twice. Finally, we had a match in which both on the right and on the left wing players attacked with an effectiveness of over 40%.
In attack we scored 49 points. Opponents 52. But we had as many as 12 point serves. We also won in the block 6:4, and we made as many as eight fewer mistakes – 24:32 to the detriment of the Slovenians in this element.
The best match of the Games!
In general, it was clear in this match that this was Slovenia’s first quarter-final in history, and even their first start in the Olympics. The Poles were also tense, but they got over their nerves faster, if they can be gotten over in such a match. The Slovenians were better in defense – they touched the ball 86 times, we 78. This match was a match of defenses – from both sides. Both teams know each other like old horses, they have been competing with each other for years with almost the same line-up. It was clear. In our opinion, this was the best match of this tournament so far – precisely because of the defense, the length of the exchanges, how prepared the players were for the offensive actions of their opponents. It was POETRY of volleyball at times.
We will only recall one action here. The third set. The Slovenians boost Bieniek’s attack, Zatorski defends the counter (“Zati” still doesn’t give enough of these defenses), then Fornal defends with an incredible fall, then Kurek and finally he finishes the whole action. This is one of many such actions in this incredible fight, but we choose this one as the action of the match. It shows how close this match was. After it ended we were leading 13:6 in the third set.
Who was the MVP of the match against Slovenia?
So who is the MVP – Kurek for attack or Leon for serving? Today we are betting on the TEAM. Because the team won this match. They won it in defense, in serving, in attack, maybe the least in blocking, because there were only six of them, while the opponents had four blocks. But there were a lot of blocks that allowed us to defend and counterattack.
In this match we were better as a team. We had better players on the wings and in the middle. Maybe Ropret (moving to Resovia) was a bit better than Janusz on the serve, but if anything, it was only because he had a great serve. Janusz continued to play tactically in this element, just like with Italy, but unlike the clash with Italy, now he really eliminated the middle blocker (mainly Kozamernik) with his serve, he also had a few aggressive serves, he even scored an ace.
But the playmaker is judged primarily by his play. Marcin Janusz carried the burden of the match. He can certainly still play better, e.g. more in the middle from more difficult receptions, but it really was his solid performance. Maybe a few balls to Leon were too low, too fast, over the line. It’s hard to say, but it was clearly visible that when Wilfredo received balls that were a bit higher, moved away from the net, he “rode” over the top nicely, when he was thrown onto the net, he bobbed and nothing came of it. On the other hand, Janusz sent a few balls too many to Bartosz Kurek, maybe a few attacks from the sixth zone could have been played because both Leon and Fornal were ready for them. But I will repeat – the most important thing is that Marcin Janusz carried the burden of the match.
Another concert in the middle
Our centres did their job again. They were great both in attack and in service. Kochanowski, who returned to the first six, was unstoppable again. He finished eight out of ten balls. There is only one worry – the injury of Mateusz Bieniek (5/8) just before the end of the match, sustained… while celebrating the winning ball.
– Let’s hope it’s not what we all think – said coach Grbić after the match, who had tears in his eyes when he gave his first interview.
Let’s hope we don’t lose Bieniek to the semi-final, just as we lost Tomasz Fornal for two games due to a sprained ankle, who may not have played a great match against Slovenia: in attack – 31% effectiveness, four completed balls out of 13. But Fornal won the most in defense – he touched the ball seventeen times, twelve defenses ended with our counterattack. He added three blocks (half of our achievements) and two service aces. It was a good match for the receiver of Jastrzębski Węgiel.
– Nikola has been preparing us for this match for three years. – this is already our libero Paweł Zatorski, who can definitely still play better. He received 26 balls (only 23% positive), made three mistakes in this element, including at the very end of the second set (Urnaut made an ace on him for 25:24 for Slovenia), but our libero, like Kurek, is fully aware that he can give this team more. That this team will also demand more from him.
– This team verifies you at every training session. And if not the team, then the coach. Now we really start our journey (implicitly to a medal – editor’s note) – said Zatorski after the match.
We are holding you to your word. We do not give individual grades. The entire team, including the coach (he did not reach for Bołądź, maybe he is supposed to be our ace in the hole for the medal matches) deserved a five. Not a six, because although they broke the “quarter-final curse”, they can still play better. They have to play better. They want to play better. The road to glory, to a place in history, is open. On Wednesday in the semi-finals, another battle for dreams.
Go to Polsatsport.pl
