USA men’s volleyball team losses to fan-favourite Poland by 3-0: World League – Volleyball news
The USA men’s volleyball team failed to secure a win over Poland in the World League match played on Friday, June 18. The USA lost to Poland in three back to back sets at Hoffman Estates in front of 4,700 spectators.
The American’s were able to provide the Polish team with some tough competition in the opening set of the game despite the fact that Poland was playing with the added advantage of being on their home court. The loss of the first set and the reverberating
cheers of the Poland fans got to the U.S. in the second set in which they were not able to keep the score close. However, U.S. tried to bounce back in the third set of the game but the Polish pressure proved to be too much to handle.
However, the coach of the U.S. team, Alan Knipe, negated the idea that the loud pro-Poland chants that kept echoing all through the match had anything to do with the U.S. defeat. “Of course we’d love to come in and see the place covered in red, white and
blue and people chanting U-S-A the whole time, but it’s not an excuse. That’s a good volleyball environment tonight. It had absolutely nothing to do with our performance in the match,” he said.
The first set of the match started off with both Poland as well as U.S. going in for the kill. The teams were desperately trying to take the lead early on in order to assert their dominance. Despite the fact that Poland was eventually able to get the upper
hand, U.S. kept the score close all the way through. Poland succeeded in bagging the first set of the game at 25-22. After that, the second and third set victories came easily for Poland.
Despite the loss, Poland and US have similar records in Pool A. In the World League, both the U.S. as well as Poland share a total of four wins obtained at the cost of incurring three losses. In case U.S. wants to head into the eight team playoffs, the team
needs to secure a win in today’s match that will start off later in the evening. The playoffs are scheduled to be held in Poland and will commence next month.
The World League is considered to be one of the most important events in the volleyball season because it offers a high level of competition to the teams that participate. Not only does it involve skillful play, it also provides a huge amount of prize money.
These two features of the World League make it an attractive option for teams from around the world to take part in the event.
Tags: