Krakow, Poland, May 27, 2018 – Young middle blocker Jakub Kochanowski put on a superb all-round performance for Poland in Krakow to help the home team master a 3-1 (25-21, 26-24, 21-25, 25-17) victory over Canada and up their win-loss record to 3-0 in the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League.
Shining from the serving line, Kochanowski contributed three aces, to which he added four stuff blocks and eight spikes for an overall tally of 15 points, one fewer than the top scorer of the match Damian Schulz.
Two more Polish players reached the double digits. Aleksander Sliwka tallied 15 points, while captain Michal Kubiak scored 14 times.
Stephen Timothy Maar was the most prolific player on the other side of the net, making 12 points for Canada, all in offence.
The fans on the stands once again created a fantastic atmosphere at Tauron Arena. Understanding that their support was essential to the success of the young Polish squad, they never stopped being involved in the match and helped the White-and-Red on the way to their 12th victory in 12 matches against Canada.
A couple of great blocks by Graham Vigrass stunned Poland on the way to an early 4-1 Canada lead. During the first technical time-out, when the North Americans still had a two-point lead, the entire Polish crowd on the stands sang together to create a goosebumps moment. Whether this was the reason or not, but after that the Canadians seemed to have lost their concentration and made a series of unforced errors, handing a 14-10 lead to Poland. Despite a mini comeback for Canada, which started with a terrific 120 km/h back-row hit by Nicholas Hoag, the home side managed to retain a four-point advantage through the end, which came at 25-21 with a successful attack by Damian Schulz.
The second set was quite level and tense, with occasional break points for one side or the other. The first one came with a blasting ace by Jakub Kochanowski for 3-2. So did the last one for the 26-24 Polish win. In between, the mega rally of the set featured a fantastic save by Michal Kubiak, where he managed to send the ball over the net while he was down on his back, only to have Bradley Robert Gunter put it on the floor for a 15-14 Canada lead. The epilogue of the set was quite impressive on the Polish side. Schulz denied a Canadian set point with a spike and delivered a Polish set point with a block, giving Kochanowski the chance to convert it from the serving line.
An ace by Ryan Joseph Sclater tipped an early 5-1 lead for Canada in the third set. With sub-in Nicholas Hoag, delivering a couple of spectacular pipe shots among other things, the North Americans extended it to 10-5. A nicely played 32-second rally finished in the most banal manner – with a net touch – but it was another point to Canada for 11-5. Setter Tyler Sanders was doing his magic to keep Poland at bay until Vigrass closed the set at 25-21 with a monster block.
It was again Sclater who extended an early Canada lead in the fourth set to 4-1 with a 103.2 km/h spike, but this time the Poles reacted in time. With the help of aces by Sliwka and Kubiak, they reversed it to a 9-7 advantage. A couple of kill blocks by Kubiak led to 16-11 at the technical time-out, extended to 18-13 with two power shots from Kochanowski. An interesting moment was seen on replay – after a joust, the ball went to the antenna off the hands of both players, stirring excitement in the hall. The ref’s call in favour of Canada put them on a mini comeback break, which narrowed the gap to 18-16, but the rest of the set was all about Poland. Kochanowski aced for 23-16 to shape-up a five-point series. Moments later, Schulz followed suit from the serving line to close the match at 25-17.
Next weekend Poland will stay at home, entertaining China, France and Germany in Lodz, while Canada will travel to San Juan to face Iran, Italy and hosts Argentina.