23/06/2012 23:00
Poland's ladies still in contention for Grand Prix finals
News from the National Federations
Taipei, Chinese Taipei, June 23, 2012. After a very weak performance on Friday against the hosts, Poland women’s national team got back on track on Saturday beating the Dominican Republic in straight sets (25-16, 25-19, and 25-14) thereby achieving the goal to take three points from that match in the last preliminary round of the 2012 FIVB World Grand Prix.
Head coach Alojzy Swiderek opted for a starting six including young players together with the more experienced Katarzyna Skowronska-Dolata and Agnieszka Bednarek-Kasza. However, similarly to the game played against Chinese Taipei, Poland’s major weakness was in reception. On Saturday Poland regrouped opening with a comfortable 25-16 its match against the Caribbean ladies and even though the players around Swiderek went through some more ups and downs, they still could pocket also the second set (25-19) as they served well and got great help by the middle blockers. Poland went quickly up 8:2 in set 3 and while the Dominican Republic lacked consistency in almost all fundamentals, the players in red and white jerseys could cruise to a well deserved 25-14 and 3:0 win.
With this result Poland still has got some chances to make it to the final round scheduled for later this month in Ningbo, China, where Europe will be certainly represented by Turkey that beat Japan 3:1 on Saturday in Osaka to book its ticket for the final round.
Many thanks to CEV young reporter Anna Holub for contributing this article
|