Stysiak leads the way with 22 points
Magdalena Stysiak
Poland finished the first Volleyball Nations League 2024 competition week on top of the current standings on an impeccable record of four wins and a 12-0 set ratio. On Sunday in Antalya, their star striker Magdalena Stysiak led them to a sweep of their encounter with Japan. It was the Asian team’s first defeat of the season and they are currently sixth in the table on a 3-1 win-loss record and 8 points.
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The score of 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-23) Poland’s way cost Japan as many as 8.59 points for the FIVB World Ranking, but they kept their eighth position in the chart and within the qualifying zone for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Opposite Stysiak produced a match-high 22 points towards Poland’s victory. Her tally included one ace and as many as five kill blocks, the scoring element that made the biggest difference in the match, with 12 stuffs for the winners and only four for Japan. Outside hitter Martyna Lukasik scored another 11 points for Poland. So did opposite Kotona Hayashi for Japan, while outside Mayu Ishikawa was Japan’s most prolific player with 14 points to her name.
Japan were well in control through most of the first set and when at 23-18 it looked like Poland were about to lose their first set of the competition, the Europeans went ahead and scored six points in a row to reach their first set point of the match. Moments later, Natalia Medrzyk crowned her great performance in the set with a monster block to close the set at 26-24 Poland’s way. Japan stepped in front in the second set again and opened a three-point gap. With Stysiak now on fire, this time Poland turned things around much earlier in the set. After 16-16, they took control of the scoreboard for good. At the end, a speedy first-tempo attack by Kamila Witkowska was left without a block and brought in the 25-20 set winner. The third set was more competitive, with Stysiak and Ishikawa racing each other on the scoreboard. At Poland’s second match point, Stysiak took the upper hand with a block-out swing that fixed the 25-23 set score and another straight-set match victory for the European side.
Kamila Witkowska celebrates
“When our offence is doing great, we are getting momentum and playing very well, but we have to improve the process of getting to a good offence,” Japan’s libero Manami Kojima commented after the game. “Poland have a really great offence,…
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