WARSAW (AFP) -
Poland’s men’s volleyball team overcame a strong challenge by the United States team in front of home fans in Gliwice to continue on their quest for a third straight FIVB Men’s World Championship title.
After a strong start, the Poles saw the Americans come back to win sets three and four and force a tie-breaker, but in the end, the home team found a way to win in five sets (25-20, 27-25, 21-25, 22-25, 15-12) to the delight of a partisan crowd.
In the semifinals, the Poles will meet Brazil in a rematch of the finals of both the 2014 and 2018 editions of the tournament. Their next opponents overcame Argentina 3-1 in an all-South American quarterfinal earlier on Thursday.
The other semifinal will reunite Italy and co-host Slovenia, who defeated France and Ukraine respectively on Wednesday.
Dominating the middle was one of the keys to the Polish victory in Gliwice. While Jakub Kochanoswki and Mateusz Bieniek combined for 34 points on the European side, American middle blockers David Smith, Jeff Jendryk and Taylor Averill produced just 16.
25-year-old Kochanowski was on fire from the service line, tallying a match-high three aces to go with his 15 kills and round up an 18-point performance. Bieniek, on the other hand, was in top form at the net, producing a match-high six blocks - he also had eight kills and two aces in his 16-point match.