Poland serves win the match with Latvia in straight sets

In the second match of the day during the second-round qualifier for the 2015 CEV Volleyball European Championship – Men taking place in Wroclaw, Poland, the hosts beat Latvia 3-0 (25:15, 25:23, 25:16) and took the lead in Pool A.

In the second match of the day during the second-round qualifier for the 2015 CEV Volleyball European Championship – Men taking place in Wroclaw, Poland, the hosts beat Latvia 3-0 (25:15, 25:23, 25:16) and took the lead in Pool A. 

The hosts started the match very well quickly gaining a eight-point advantage, partially thanks to Mariusz Wlazly's powerful serves (two aces), but also very good play in spike and bock (10:2). The Latvians managed to break the Polish series for a moment, but they were unable to stop the White-and-Reds' strong serves in the long run (seven aces). The set was a true display of Poland's domination as they romped into victory 25-15.

 In the beginning of set 2 the score stayed close with the very focused Latvians slightly ahead (8:7 at the first TTO, later 13:11). They managed to jump ahead at 15:12, but the Poles refused to let them get any further and levelled the score at 16:16 with a series of three unanswered points. From that moment, the play continued on a point-by-point basis. In the end it was the Poles who showed better concentration and took the set 25-23. 

Both teams carried the high level of play from the previous set to the third one. However, once the hosts gained control at 8-5, they stayed ahead till the end of the set (12-6, then 16-13). This let their new coach, Stephane Antiga give more players a chance to play. Latvia fought very hard, but Poland would not loose grip on the victory – they picked up the set 25:16 and the entire match 3-0. With this three-point win they took the lead in the Pool, followed by Slovenia (2 points), the F.Y.R. of Macedonia (1 point) and Latvia (0 points). 

“What we lack the most is experience,” said the head coach of Latvia, . “We play matches like these, on the highest level maybe once every three years. I am satisfied with my players' attitude – they were fighting, even though we were expecting this result. This was a good lesson for us.”

 “I really liked two things today,” commented the head coach of Poland, Stephane Antiga. “First of all that the opponents did not make many mistakes in spike forcing us to play really good in block and in defence. My players covered the court very well. The second thing was that second set, when the Latvians were leading almost the entire time, but my team managed to stay concentrated and fight. I am very proud of them.”

 In the first game on Saturday, at 3pm local time, Latvia will face Slovenia, while Poland will fight the F.Y.R. of Macedonia (6pm local time).