Poland proved why it is the world’s high males’s volleyball workforce, cruising to a 34-32, 25-15, 25-19 win towards Romania within the 2025 FIVB Males’s Volleyball World Championship on Saturday on the Good Araneta Coliseum.
The world no. 1 squad overcame a sluggish begin earlier than pulling away to safe a straight-sets victory, kicking off their Pool B marketing campaign on a excessive be aware of their quest for redemption, whereas world no. 22 Romania fell to 0-1.
Wilfredo Leon was in high kind, main the cost with 14 factors constructed on 11 assaults, two aces, and one block. Veteran Bartosz Kurek additionally chipped in with 13 markers.
Regardless of the sweep, Poland needed to survive a tense opening set, with Romania forcing a 32-all impasse within the prolonged body. Kurek broke the tie with a kill, and Jakub Kochanowski adopted it up with an ace to seal the set.
From there, it was all Poland. Leon blasted one from the left wing to stretch the result in 20-14, and Kewin Sasak fired from the again row for a 23-18 cushion.
Szymon Jakubiszak’s cross-court hammer introduced Poland to match level, earlier than Kamil Semeniuk closed it out with an ace from the service line.
The win gave Poland a much-needed sturdy begin as they appear to avenge their silver-medal end within the 2022 version, the place they fell to Italy within the last.
Nonetheless, workforce captain Kurek was fast to mood expectations, saying it’s too early to speak about medals and emphasizing the significance of taking it one sport at a time.
“It’s method too quick to talk about the medals. First, we now have to concentrate on the group to advance. Each sport is tremendous necessary for the seeding, for the arrogance,” Kurek stated.
“I’m comfortable that we began the match like we did. The primary set wasn’t straightforward, although, however I feel we performed it underneath management.”
Within the different sport, the Netherlands overcame a Set 3 hiccup to grind out a 25-18, 25-23, 26-28, 25-23 win over Qatar.
Regardless of lacking star Nimir Abdel-Aziz, Michiel Ahyi led the best way with 20 factors on 14 assaults, three blocks, and three aces. Tom Koops and Bennie Tuinstra added 17 and 15 markers, respectively.
With the win, the Netherlands joined Poland at 1-0 in Pool B, whereas Qatar slipped to 0-1.
—JKC, GMA Built-in Information