Brno, Czech Republic, June 27, 2017 – Once again,
Bartosz Kwolek was the main engine of the well functioning Polish machine. With the help of five aces from the prolific outside hitter,
Poland stayed unbeaten at the FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship, despite losing their first sets in the 3-2 (25-13, 18-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-8) victory over
China in the opening match of Pool E in Brno.
Kwolek was the best scorer of the match with a total of 24 points. His teammate
Tomasz Fornal contributed another 18, while
Yuantai Yu was China’s top scorer with 12 points.
With Bartosz Kwolek and his teammates performing at top level, the first set was completely one-sided and Poland cruised to a convincing 25-13 win. China really got into the game in the second set. Their great reception, efficient spiking, prolific serving and overall precision on the court delivered a 25-18 close to tie the match at 1-1.
Liying Zhou, who had come in as a sub during the first set, started delivering the points in the third. While Tomasz Fornal led Poland’s efforts to stay close behind in the score, Zhou’s performance at the net helped China claim a narrow 25-23 win. Stepping up their spiking, especially between the two technical time-outs of the fourth set, Poland struck back and reset the balance after 25-18. The Polish blockers also did a tremendous job in the fifth set to keep the momentum, scoring four stuffs on the way to a 15-8 win.