Poland earns a second victory over Argentina

On Sunday evening, Poland survived an initial scare and beat Argentina 3-1 (18-25, 25-21, 26-24 and 25-17) in the closing match of the fourth week of the 2013 FIVB World League.

On Sunday evening, Poland survived an initial scare and beat Argentina 3-1 (18-25, 25-21, 26-24 and 25-17) in the closing match of the fourth week of the 2013 FIVB World League.

Michal Winiarski of Poland, who was named the MVP of the match, recorded 16 points, while Argentina's Ivan Castellani led his team with 13 points.

Argentina started the match with a different lineup than on Friday, using stronger and more experienced players. This resulted in their strong play from the beginning of the first set. However, the guests managed to jump ahead to a three-point lead at the first TTO. They remained in control throughout the set, increasing the advantage to seven points as Poland made many unforced errors. Argentina easily won the first set (25-18).

Set two brought a change in the hosts' play-–they started very concentrated and quickly jumped ahead (6-3), forcing Argentina's head coach Javier Weber to call time-out. Highly motivated, the White-Reds increased the advantage to seven points (15-8), once again thanks to the powerful serves of Bartosz Kurek and Jakub Jarosz. The guests were unable to catch the opponents, regardless of their impressive play on defense and the Poles picked up the second set (25-21).

In the third set, the score stayed very close, and neither team gained a significant advantage. The play continued on a point-by-point basis until the second TTO, after which the Poles, with great effort, managed to obtain an advantage (18-16) then (20-17). Argentina did not lose touch with the hosts, however, and tied the score at (23-23). Nevertheless, after a fierce fight, it was Poland who celebrated a victory (26-24) and a lead in the entire match 2-1.

The hosts maintained the momentum from the previous set, and quickly gained advantage in the next one (4-0). Coach Weber called time-out at that point, which made Poland lose their focus and gave Argentina an opportunity to level the score (7-7). Despite that, the Poles once more proved their dominance in serve as Zbigniew Bartman's hits gave them a (14-9) advantage. He scored two aces and gave the opponents a lot of trouble in reception with other serves. His teammates added strong spikes and the Argentinians were helpless. They romped in to a victory (25-17) and took the entire match 3-1.