07/08/2015 23:02
Polish ladies come back twice from one set down to edge Greece at tie-break
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Women
Kalisz, Poland, August 7, 2015. Poland showed incredible resilience to come back from hopeless situations, winning their first game against Greece 3:2 (12-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-22, 15-13) in the second leg of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League – Women in Kalisz.
It is hard to describe the first set of the game (12-25) in any different way than a total domination of Greece. Poland’s game was almost non-existent and most of the points that the hosts earned came from their opponents’ own errors.
Whatever coach Wieslaw Popik told his players during the break, it worked like magic. They quickly established a four-point lead (8:4) and stayed ahead of Greece, despite the opponents’ efforts, which resulted in some long and quite spectacular rallies. One service ace gave the visiting team a brief lead (12:13), but it did not last long, as the white and red ladies accelerated the pace again and ended the second set 25-18.
Consistency is rarely a virtue of young players and Poland’s team that the fans got to see in Kalisz can definitely be described as very young. While the beginning of set three seemed promising, the more experienced Greek players prevailed in the key moments and won the set 25-19.
Even more determination could be seen in Greece’s attacks in set four, while Poland was struggling in defence. The visitors kept a safe distance through the second mandatory time-out (16:13) and soon afterwards (18:13) seemed on their way to win the set and match. To everyone’s surprise, the white and red players managed to come back with two service aces (Martyna Grajber and Ewelina Tobiasz) and tied the score at 20:20. This time the Poles were showing a flawless performance and Greece had to deal with their own errors, resulting in a 25-22 set win for the hosts.
The first four points of the tie-breaker went to Greece’s account and Poland had only themselves to blame for it. That four point distance seemed impossible to catch up but Poland once again proved that impossible comebacks are their specialty. Great teamwork and block-out attacks won the fifth set 15-13 for the hosts.
Poland’s team captain, Kamila Ganszczyk said: “We were a way too nervous when starting this game. I don’t know if this is because of the TV cameras or playing in front of our own crowd – maybe both. In any case, that tension prevented us from showing what we’re really capable of. It looked very good in the training and suddenly here nothing was working: bad reception, bad attacks… We woke up for the second set and did well. Perhaps too well and easy, as we lost our concentration in set three. I’m glad that we did not give up and fought till the end.”
“This is the beauty of sport – you can make so many predictions but you will be wrong so many times. We’re very happy with this win, but the game was really hard. Those nerves, especially in the young players, are incredible and today they had to play with those “backpacks” on – you could see how difficult it was for them,” said Wieslaw Popik, head coach of Poland.
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