Poland lost to France 2:3 in the first match of the group stage of the U22 Men’s Volleyball European Championship played in the Jaskółka Arena in Tarnów. Today, the white-and-reds will face Serbia.
The Poles started the first part of the match very well. In this part of the match, the French could not find any way against the speeding Poles. Daniel Pliński’s charges controlled the game until the end and won.
The beginning of the second set started with a very close game, point for point. The French team was not going to give up without a fight. In the middle of the second set, the Polish players started to make simple mistakes. The set belonged to the French 25:22.
The Polish team came out for the third set strongly concentrated. The players avoided simple mistakes. Until 20:20, the game was even on both sides. However, the final phase of the set went better for the French team at 25:22.
If anyone thought that the Poles would give up the match without a fight, they were wrong. The fourth part of Tuesday’s duel started with a challenging head-to-head game. There was no shortage of fierce and exciting games at the end of the set 22:22 and 24:24. Eventually, the Polish team took advantage of the simple mistakes of their opponents and won the fourth set at 28:26.
Tie-break started better for the hosts with 4:2. Unfortunately, a moment of relaxation was enough for Stephane Sapinart’s players to take a 7:4 lead. Before the change of sides, Poland tried to make up losses. The White-Red players did their best to win the match. However, the French kept a cool head and won by 22:20 and the whole game by 3:2.
The Polish men’s team will face Serbia today in the second group stage. On Thursday (July 14), however, Poles will play with Austria. The semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday.
Poland – France 2:3 (25:15, 22:25, 22:25, 28:26, 20:22)