Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, September 14, 2011. Poland shattered the dreams of the Czech Republic to qualify for the 1/4 finals this afternoon in Karlovy Vary and tomorrow will play Slovakia in a remake of the match they surprisingly lost a few days ago in Prague in the prelims of the EuroVolley 2011 (23-25, 25-22, 29-31, 18-25).

The first set was a very close affair, with continuous ties up to 20 all. With some great spikes and effective blocks Poland clipped a narrow margin to move up 21:24 and although the hosts were able to avert three set balls, still the guests finished it off at 23-25.   

Poland stormed out for the provisional 0:5 in set 2 before Lukas Tichacek fired up his side to draw level at 5. Jan Stokr was downing the red and white block with his great attacks but the score stayed tight up to 22 all. This time the Czechs were able to stamp a great final rush and wrapped it up at 25-22.

The Volleyball drama for the audience in Karlovy Vary continued throughout set 3 as the home side sailed away to 16:10 and 20:16. After that, Poland’s got momentum via the serves of Michal Kubiak and scored 5 in a row. The hosts could not finalize their quest and the set was completed at 29-31 after 37 minutes of tough play.

Marcin Mozdzonek and Bartosz Kurek set the tempo for Poland in set 4 and with a regular margin of 4-5 points the 2009 European champions could safely seal the deal at 18-25.

Ondrej Hudecek, Czech captain, said after the game: “I think the turning point was the third set as we were leading by six points and we lost in the end. Throughout the tournament we haven’t found our blocks. And against Poland we needed this fundamental to win this game”.

Jan Svoboda, Czech coach, added: “Congratulations to Poland. They were simply the best team on court today”.

Piotr Gruszka, Poland’s leader: “We knew what kind of team we were going to play. Recently we have lost to them and on their home ground it was supposed to be a difficult game. There were two crucial moments, in my opinion as the score stood at 21:18 in the second set and then when the Czechs were leading 20:16 in set 3 and we turned it around. We will now clean up our minds as we want to get ready for the next game and qualify for the semifinals in Vienna”.