WARSAW, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Poland's national men's volleyball team advanced into the quarterfinals of the 2022 FIVB World Championship after beating Tunisia 25-20, 25-15, 25-20 in Gliwice on Sunday.
Poland was considered a strong favorite as it had beaten Tunisia in their last seven matches. On Sunday, the world champion proved its quality since the very beginning.
Tunisia had problems with the reception as in the first set and Poland scored five aces. Aleksander Sliwka coped with the double block, while Marcin Janusz struck perfectly from the serve area and Poland increased the gap to 17-14. Then Nikola Grbic's side controled the game to win the opening set 25-20 after Sliwka killed Tunisia's hopes with a strong attack.
In the second set, Tunisia scored just 15, while in the third set Poland lost 20 points. The visitors couldn't find a way to stop Poland's fast attacks. Kamil Semeniuk poured in 12 points, the same as the hosts' captain Bartosz Kurek.
In the quarterfinal, Poland will play against the United States, who beat Turkey 25-21, 25-17, 22-25, 19-25, 15-12 earlier, on September 8.
It seemed that John Speraw's side would have won in three straight sets as they were leading 2-0. However, opposite Adis Lagumdzija led Turkey to a massive comeback with 14 points which he scored in two sets.
The Americans had the last word in the tie-break. Middle blocker David Smith turned out to be the hero, after his three consecutive strikes saw his team wrap up the third set 15-12.
Smith was the top scorer of the United States with 17 points, while Lagumdzija was unstoppable to deliver 31 for Turkey. ■
