National team of Poland
Bulgaria took the initiative right from the beginning displaying great defensive skills and leading quickly with 6-2 but Poland answered promptly with a 5-0 run to retake the lead at 7-6. Italian coach of Bulgaria Marcello Abbondanza reacted quickly using a timeout to break Poland‘s flow. His plan was successful because his ladies accelerated their game to retake the lead with a 6-0 run (17-12). Poland turned the tables themselves by having an 8-0 run to retake the lead in a top-level match (22-21). In front of standing ovations by a great number of Polish fans the ladies from Poland grabbed the first set with great enthusiasm.
The second set started off with the same high-level volleyball as the first ended. Both teams made almost no mistakes keeping the score within a 1-point gap until Bulgaria used a few good serves to take the lead at the first technical timeout (8-6). Bulgaria even managed to extend their lead until the second technical timeout displaying tremendous blocks and a fast-paced play (16-12). Bulgaria continued to dominate the set playing variably and forcing Poland to quite a few mistakes.
Poland reacted strongly at the beginning of the second set taking an early lead with an amazing blocking game (6-0). Bulgaria did not find a way to stop the almost perfectly playing Polish ladies who dominated clearly offensively as well as defensively midway through the set (5-16). Poland played the rush and won the third set champion-like with 25-13. Skrowonska-Dolata of Poland led her team with 5 break points out of a total of 7 in set 3.
The Polish power did not let down at the beginning of the fourth set leading quickly 8-6 at the first technical timeout. Bulgaria found no answer to the powerful game of the Polish squad that accelerated their game throughout the entire match, displayed by a 19-12 lead late in the set. In the end, Poland impressively rushed through the fourth set dominating Bulgaria in every aspect of the game using its third match point to an unquestioned 3:1 victory. Both teams now have win-loss ratio 1-1.
Best scorers in Poland were Katarzyna-Ewa Skowronska-Dolata with 25 and Karolina Rozycka with 11 points. In Bulgaria, Strashimira Filipova scored 16 and Elitsa Vasileva 13 points.
See profiles of Poland and Bulgaria.
For more news from this country, click on European Championship 2013 W.
