Poland had a fantastic victory at the start of the Paris 2024 Olympics volleyball tournament, defeating Japan’s very strong team by 3-1 (20:25, 25:22, 25:23, 28:26) in Group B. The Polish team started weakly and hesitantly, but they returned in the match with strong blocks and attacks.
The Japanese team showed great tactics and great volleyball, as they made a comeback in the third and fourth games, although they lost the match.
The first game started strongly for Japan, who overplayed Poland with very clever style and tactics. In the start of the match, the Japanese women play extremely accurately and sparingly, with few mistakes.
Initially, Poland took the lead by 11:9, but the Japanese coach took a break and stopped their impetus. Japanese players controlled the second part of the first game and turned over the result.
The Japanese coach made a very good substitution at the end of the first game when Airi Miyabe entered to serve. This made the change and brought four consecutive points for Japan, who closed the first game at 25:19.
The second game started equally with none of the team taking a serious lead. Poland changed their style to attack in the center, which brought them success and changed the score in the second game. They succeeded in having some advance at 13:10, but Japanese players equalized to 14:14.
An ace by Magdalena Jurczyk brought again the lead to the Polish volleyball players for 20:18 when the Japanese coach asked for a break to stop their impetus, but this time Magdalena Stysiak finished the Polish attack and extended the lead to 21:19.
Airi Miyabe was again put into play to serve but this time the Polish women saved her serve and kept their lead to 22:19. Both teams changed a point, and the strong efforts of the Polish players saved them at the end of the second game to keep their lead to 24:21 and they succeeded to closed the game at 25:22 and equalized the games to 1-1.
The third game started strongly for Poland, as obviously the tactics of the Japanese players were not strong enough as they did not attack through the center, which Polish women used and took a lead by 8:3 and their kept to 10:5. A lot of unforced errors for Japan helped the Polish women to keep their lead to 14:8. Although Japanese women returned to their good rhythm, but Poland saved their advance of 7-8 points and moved ahead to winning the second game to 19:11. Strong final print by Japanese players literally evaporated the whole lead by Poland, but at the end Stefano Lavarini-led girls closed the third game at 25:23 after strong diagonal attack by Magdalena Stysiak.
The strong form that Japanese women showed at the end of the third game continued at the start of the fourth. Wada was unstoppable at the serve and attacks, which brought to Japan a comfortable lead of 6:3. Polish players on the other hand returned to the match to 9:9.
Thus, Polish volleyball players equalized the score and even took the lead to 21:18, being close to winning the match. After an unforced error at the attack by Wada, Poland even extended their lead to 22:18. Things looked quite safe for Poland, but two mistakes almost equalized the score at 22:21. However, a strong attack by Magdalena Stysiak brought a point for her team for 23:21, but Japanese immediately returned the point and even equalized to 23:23.
Polish block saved the next point and at 24:23 had a match point. Agnieszka Korneluk served well, but Japanese women equalized to 24:24, and their block caught Magdalena Stysiak’s attack for 25:24.
Agnieszka Korneluk was the best player for Poland, both in attacks and blocks. Magdalena Stysiak was with 19 points.
Earlier national volleyball team of Italy smashed the Dominican Republic with 3-1 (25:19, 24:26, 25:21, 25:18) in the first match from Group C of the Paris 2024 Olympics women’s volleyball tournament.