Győr, Hungary, April 30, 2017.  Poland took the fifth place in the final standings of the 2017 CEV U19 Volleyball European Championship - Men. On Sunday afternoon, coach Maciej Zendel’s squad mastered a 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-15) shutout of France in the fifth place classification match in Győr, leaving the opponents in the sixth position. Both teams had already secured their spots at the FIVB Volleyball Boys U19 World Championship Bahrain 2017 and the European Youth Olympic Festival Győr 2017.


Poland vs. France 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-15)

The first set was quite tight through 14-14, after which the Polish team took control. Their impressive efforts in offence led them to a 25-22 win. France fought back, but could stay competitive only through 6-6 in the second set. Poland showed off their blocking skills as well and broke away to a 25-15 close. After the first rally of the third set, they took the lead again and never looked back cruising to another comfortable 25-15 to celebrate with the speedy victory. Bartosz Michalak was the biggest point contributor to his team’s success, scoring 14 times in the match. His teammate Filip Grygiel and France’s Célestin Cardin tallied 13 each.

Szymon Jezierski, captain of Poland: "This was our best match of the European Championship. The key was definitely our good serving and good reception. We finished fifth at the European Championship and we are glad with this result."

Sebastian Pawlik, assistant coach of Poland: "Congratulations to the boys! It was important to win because of the good feeling they have now. They played well so they deserve this victory. I am very proud of them - they showed great spirit today."

Célestin Cardin, player of France: "Our warm-up was not the best today. After the first set, we were getting better. Still, it was not enough to win the set. It was difficult for us today. Yesterday we won and we were really happy. We could not repeat our good performance today."

Slimane Belmadi, coach of France: "There were problems with the guys’ concentration. They are tired and inexperienced. After yesterday's victory, they could not come back and start from the beginning. We really wanted to win, in order to go back to France in a good mood."


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