POLAND showed its mettle by coming back from two sets down to defeat Slovenia, 29-31, 25-27, 25-20, 25-20, 15-13, in the Manila leg of the 2023 Volleyball Nations League on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The current No. 1 ranked team in the world clawed its way back from two-sets down to improve to 7-2 (win-loss) ahead of a match against Brazil on Friday.
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Poland and Slovenia traded blows until the game’s concluding moments. A couple of consecutive unanswered points ultimately gave the Biało-Czerwoni the set.
“They’re an excellent team so we expected that it would be tough for us to get the victory,” said Poland captain Kurek Bartosz. "Luckily we were able to come back from two sets down. We are happy but we know we can still do better and we’re currently in an improvement phase."
Outside Hitter Sliwka Aleksander led Poland with 20 points on 18 attacks, one block, and one ace. On the opposite wing, Bednorz Bartosz provided support with 14 markers of his own.
Čebulj Klemen led the way for Slovenia with 20 points on 19 attacks and one block. Možič Rok followed up with 17 points on 15 attacks, one block, and one ace.
Slovenia aims to bounce back when it goes head-to-head with China on Thursday.
Box scores:
Poland - Aleksander 20, B. Bartosz 14, Mateusz 11, K. Bartosz 10, Lukasz 9, Jakub 9, Kamil 8
Slovenia - Klemen 20, Rok 17, Tine 16, Jan 11, Alen 8, Žiga 4, Uroš 1, Gregor 1
Set scores: 29-31, 25-27, 25-20, 25-20, 15-13
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