Poland played the third match in the 2021 CEV Men’s Volleyball European Championship and scored its third victory.
After an unexpectedly difficult match, Poland defeated Greece 3-1 (25-15, 25-22, 20-25, 26-24) at home in Kraków and is still on a path to win Pool A. After successfully completing the most difficult task in the group stage (defeated Serbia 3-2) yesterday, the head coach of the world champion Vital Heynen decided to check the form of some of his backups but it nearly turned into failure. When he saw that the match might go in an unexpected direction, the Belgian expert sent León, Kurek, and Drzyzga to the court (from the middle of the third set onwards). Piotr Nowakowski staged a superb display. He set up as many as nine blocks (!) and was the top scorer for Poland with 20 points (it is very rare that the middle blocker finishes volleyball match as the top scorer). His attack was also on a high level (73 %, 11/15, blocked once). Paweł Zatorski had 71 % reception (28 digs, one error, 43 % excellent). Nikos Zoupani notched 19 points for Greece.
Italy earned the second victory by overcoming Montenegro with a score of 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 26-24) in Pool B in Ostrava, the Czech Republic. The ‘Azzurri’ played on a level that was not brilliant but was sufficient for another three points. It has to be stressed that Montenegro was close to extending the encounter to, at least, four sets, given it had 22-19 in the third set. Daniele Lavia and Giulio Pinali tallied 14 points apiece for Italy. Simone Anzani set up five blocks. Miloš Ćulafić scored 15 points on the losing side.
