European Championships, Poland is the first finalist

Poland-Slovenia 3-1

The Polish men’s national volleyball team achieved a remarkable victory over Slovenia, ending the match with a score of 3-1 (23-25; 25-21; 25-20; 25-21) and thus gaining access to the final of the European Championships 2023. The red and white team è managed to impose itself at the PalaEur in Rome and on Saturday, Sept. 16 (at 9 p.m.) will return to the capital’s court to face the winner between Italy and France in the final act of the tournament.

The team led by coach Nikola Grbic won this important victory by coming back from an early disadvantage and is now set to chase its second continental title, after triumphing in 2009 against France. Also worth noting are the five consecutive finals lost between 1975 and 1983 against the unbeatable Soviet Union. Slovenia, on the other hand, will have to settle for playing for the bronze medal, having played three finals in the last four editions of the European Championships (all lost to France, Serbia and Italy, respectively).

Poland suffered a comeback in the first set, going from a 16-14 lead to a 23-25 final disadvantage, paying for the liveliness of their opponents, who imposed blow after blow. However, the vice world champions returned to the court with unprecedented grit and completely turned the match upside down, demonstrating a superior technical level. This led them to victory against a highly esteemed opponent, who had already given Belgium and Serbia a hard time in the round of 16 and quarterfinals played at the PalaFlorio in Bari.

Of particular note was the outstanding performance of setter Wilfredo Leon, author of 25 points (including 2 aces, 3 walls and a 47% success rate in the offensive phase). This outstanding talent, of Cuban descent, è was flanked with great effectiveness by Aleksander Sliwka (10 points, 2 walls) and Lukasz Kaczmarek (14 points, with a 52% attack rate) as opposing players. Also reaching double-digit scoring were centerbacks Norbert Huber (10 points, 3 walls) and Jakub Kochanowski (6 points), while Marcin Janusz è was flawless in directing and Pawel Zatorski provided solid defense as libero. Despite good efforts from forwards Rok Mozic (15 points), Klemen Cebulj (15 points) and Tine Urnaut (10 points), coach Gheorghe Cretu’s Slovenia è failed to overcome Poland.