Belgium hand Poland 3-0 loss in Doetinchem

Belgium earned three important points after beating Poland 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-12) in the first Pool O match in the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix in Topsport Centre Doetinchem on Friday.

Key Points

· Belgium gathered enough points to reach the Final Four of Group 2.

· Belgium have now beaten a fellow European side for the first time in the World Grand Prix.

· Belgian hitter Lise Van Hecke continued with her scoring onslaught, she had 23 points, outscoring her scoring rival Katarzyna Zaroslinska, who only scored one point in the match.

· Poland attackers were off in the match, none of them hit the 10-point mark.

Belgium were off to a good start as they took the lead at the first obligatory break 8-5. Poland tried to cut down the lead 9-8 but could not prevent the “Yellow Tigers” from slowly pulling away. Belgium created a four-point margin 16-12. Van Hecke showed her great blocking skills that widened the gap 23-18. Aleskandra Wojcik committed a service error to end the first set in favour of Germany 25-20.

Poland took the lead in the beginning of the second set 5-3, but two strong attacks of Freya Aelbrecht tied the score at 6-all. Both teams fought hard to force a series of deadlocks before Belgium took an important two-point swing to gain a 17-15 advantage. Belgium walked away with a win in the second set on two hard attacks by Van Hecke 25-19.

Belgium opened the third set with a 5-0 lead and widened the gap further 14-5. The Belgians created a 10-point margin at the second break 16-6 that became relatively easy for them to pull away. Aelbrecht scored the game-winning point at 25-12.

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