Poland surprise first day winner Bulgaria

On day 2 of the 2013 CEV Volleyball European Championship – Women, titleholder Serbia swept the Czech Republic in straight sets (25-21, 26-24, and 25-23) while Poland surprised first day winner Bulgaria with a 3:1 (22-25, 25-18, 13-25, and 18-25) win. The situation in Pool D is still fully open after two competition days.

On day 2 of the 2013 CEV Volleyball European Championship – Women, titleholder Serbia swept the Czech Republic in straight sets (25-21, 26-24, and 25-23) while Poland surprised first day winner Bulgaria with a 3:1 (22-25, 25-18, 13-25, and 18-25) win. The situation in Pool D is still fully open after two competition days.

Poland impressively grabbed their first win by defeating Bulgaria in an exciting match 3:1 (22-25, 25-18, 13-25, 18-25). Much improved Polish ladies showed their real potential by dominating Bulgaria in front of many enthusiastic Polish fans who made their way to the “Sport- und Kongresshalle” in Schwerin.

Bulgaria took the initiative right from the beginning displaying great defensive skills and leading quickly with 6-2 but Poland answered promptly with a 5-0 run to retake the lead at 7-6. The ladies from Poland increased their pressure on Bulgaria with fast and powerful play scoring several block points at that stage of the set. Bulgaria’s coach Marcello Abbondanza reacted quickly using a timeout to break Poland's flow. His plan was successful because his players accelerated their game to retake the lead with a 6-0 run (17-12). Poland turned the tables themselves by having an 8-0 run to retake the lead in a top-level match at 21-22. In front of standing ovations by a great number of Polish fans, the Polish squad grabbed the first set with great enthusiasm (25-22).

The second set started with the same high-level Volleyball as the first had ended. Both teams made almost no mistakes keeping the score within a one-point gap until Bulgaria used a few good services to take the lead at the first technical time-out (8-6). Bulgaria even managed to extend their lead until the second technical time-out displaying tremendous blocks and a fast-paced play (16-12). Bulgaria continued to dominate the set playing variably and forcing Poland to quite a few mistakes. Consequently, Abbondanza's ladies used their first set point to tie the game 1:1 (25-18) with 7 points added by wing-spiker Dobriana Rabadzhieva.

Poland reacted strongly at the beginning of the second set taking an early lead with an amazing blocking game (6-0). Bulgaria did not find a way to stop the almost perfectly playing Polish ladies who dominated clearly offensively as well as defensively midway through the set (16-5). Poland played the rush and won the third set champion-like 25-13. Poland’s Skowronska-Dolata led her team with 5 break points out of a total of 7 in set 3.

The Polish power did not let down at the beginning of the fourth set leading quickly 8-6 at the first technical time-out. Bulgaria found no answer to the powerful game of the Polish squad that accelerated their game throughout the entire match, displayed by a 19-12 lead late in the set. In the end, Poland impressively rushed through the fourth set dominating Bulgaria in every aspect of the game using its third match point to an unquestioned 3:1 victory.

Bulgaria Captain Strashimira Filipova: “Poland’s advantage in this match were their services. This made it difficult for us to play a tactical game. For tomorrow we have to learn from our mistakes of today, if we want to reach the next round in this tournament.”

Poland Captain Katarzyna Ewa Skowronska-Dolata: “Today we took a big step towards the next round of the championship. I don’t need to say how important it is now to prepare properly for tomorrow.”

Bulgaria head coach Marcello Abbondanza: “I’m very sad about this loss because this match could have turned also our way in order to win the first place in our group. While the first set could have been won, the third set was way out of our reach. This very unstable performance is following us since the beginning of this season. First we win a game and the next one seems to be twice as hard and we lose.”

Poland head coach Piotr Makowski: “First of all I would like to thank our fans for all of their support today. All this cheering really made the difference for us; it gave my team an energy that was not to be expected. We did not start very well, so I had to react by making some changes to the starting six. We won this game because of our good services and our hard fighting. Due to this win, we have now a chance to take the first place in our group.”