Brazil edges out hosts Poland in five-set thriller – Volleyball news
Poland lost to Brazil in a five-set thriller on Sunday while playing at home in front of more than 5,000 spectators.
The Pool D teams fought a great volleyball battle, which continued for almost two hours. Visiting squad Brazil proved to be better and overpowered the Polish counterparts, 3-2 (25-15, 25-13, 23-25, 22-25, 15-10). Atlas Arena in Polish city Lodz provided
the backdrop for the match. Brazil completed the winning streak of three matches whereas Poland ended the first leg of 2012 FIVB World Grand Prix with 1-2 record.
Fernanda Rodrigues of Brazil topped all the scorers with match-high 18 points, which included 15 winning spikes and three serve aces. Poland’s Katarzyna Skowronska-Dolata added 13 points and emerged as top-scorer in the home team.
After losing to Italy in the previous match, Poland was ‘in for the kill’ against Brazil in the next match. The hosts opened the match on a good note and tried to put pressure on the rival side. Nonetheless, the world champions Brazil gave a good competition
to home squad and score shifted up with close gap.
Gradually, Rodrigues paced things for Brazil and put her team in lead. Brazilian attackers joined hands and stormed Poland’s half with ground breaking shots. In the meanwhile, solid defence of Brazil locked Poland at 15 points. Brazil quickly covered the
length of opening affair and bagged first-set win, 25-15.
Second set also came successful for Brazil and the scoreboard showed the similar proportion of scores. Poland suffered the set-back after scoring only 13 points.
However, home team was quick to retaliate in the third set. It was not easy to break the rhythm of charged-up Brazilians but the spirited effort of Poles enabled them to claim third set, 25-23.
Polish team followed the same strategy and created the dead-lock of 2-2 by winning fourth set, 25-22. It was indeed a great comeback by the Poles but resilient rival Brazil bounced back in the decisive fifth set. Brazil closed final set at 15-10 and announced
match victory.
Brazil coach Jose Guimaraes seemed satisfied with his team’s performance. Speaking of the match, he said, “We played very well in the first two sets. Serve, block and defence – everything was working almost perfectly. Then Poland improved their reception
and it completely changed the match. There was a tie break and it’s always a lottery. Today we were lucky.”
Likewise, the skipper of the Brazilian squad Fernanda Rodrigues was totally delighted about the hard-earned win. She expressed her emotions in the following manner, “I’m very happy, especially talking about the first two sets, when we were playing great.
Then we lost concentration and it was very nervous. But fortunately we won. I have a great respect for Poland and for their fight until the end.”
Tags: