Poland in Płock achieved first victory in World Grand Prix 2013 beating not demanding opponent, Kazakhstan 3-0. In second match Japan changing key players, grabbed a win from Germany after tiebreak.
POLAND – KAZAKHSTAN 3-0 (25-17 25-17 25-11)
Line-ups and scores:
Poland: Radecka, Skowrońska-Dolata (17), Kąkolewska (5), Kaczor (11), Różycka (8), Efimienko (12), Maj (L) and Sieczka (2), Konieczna (3), Wołosz (1), Martałek
Kazakhstan: Ishimtseva, Anarbayeva (1), Shenberger (5), Mudritskaya (11), Nassedkina, Jarlagassova (8), Storozhenko (L) and Omelchenko (2), Lukomskaya, Afanasyeva, Gordeyeva (2)
Match for Poland was some easy. Kazakh players were dangerous only in initial parts of each set. Poland had good serve (6 aces) and was better in all other elements. Reception was really bad in kazakh performance. Good proof for that is outside hitter Irina Shenberger who was covered in reception by opposite Tatyana Mudritskaya. Best Kazakh scorer didn’t get as many balls as in previous matches, what surprised me most. Poles had good game, no rest had main Polish spiker, outside hitter/opposite Katarzyna Skowrońska-Dolata. Good game also by middle blocker Zuzanna Efimienko. This time there are no team stats, because stats from tournament in Płock in reception aren’t reliable source (Do you believe that Poland had 15% reception and Kazakhstan 0%? SERIOUSLY ?!)
Team Leaders:
PlayersPointsSpike pointsSpike %Spike errorsBlockServeUnforced ErrorsKatarzyna Skowrońska171662 %2016Tatyana Mudritskaya111048 %1103
GERMANY – JAPAN 2-3 (25-18 25-20 20-25 22-25 12-15)
Line-ups and scores:
Germany: Weiss, Brinker, Fürst, Kozuch, Beier, Ssuchke-Voigt, Dürr (L) and Hanke, Thomsen, Hippe, Geerties
Japan: Miyashita, Kimura, Iwasaka, Shinnabe, Ishida, Kawashima, Zayasu (L) and Nagaoka, Hashimoto, Ishii, Hirai
First two sets didn’t forshadow us, that we can have a tiebreak here. Germany had a visible advantage, thanks to strong block, astonishing defense and throughgoing spikes. Coach Masayoshi Manabe noticed that with starting line-up he won’t change this game, so he entered opposite Miyu Nagaoka, outside hitter Yuki Ishii, middle blocker Kanako Hirai and setter Naoko Hashimoto. With new players on court started playing better from third set. Defense was perfect, Germans couldn’t killed numerous spikes because of digs made by libero Kotoki Zayasu. After lost third set outside hitter Maren Brinker was sent on bench and replaced by Jennifer Geerties who had few succesful actions, but wasn’t enough replacement. Japan won this match, mostly by their substitutes, Nagaoka was the key player. Here also without team stats (I can’t believe that Germany had 9% points and Japan 2% in reception!)
Team Leaders:
PlayersPointsSpike pointsSpike %Spike errorsBlockServeUnforced ErrorsMargareta Kozuch191733 %1202Miyu Nagaoka272441 %6218