WL2017/ Poland Leave Iran Upset to Join F6

Lodz, Poland, June 17, 2017 – Michal Kubiak (15 points, 2 blocks) and Dawid Konarski (10 points) led Poland to a three-straight set comfortable victory (25-17, 25-18, 25-22) over Iran n Saturday’s World League action.

With their fourth win of the tournament, Poland are still in contention for a berth at the Curitiba Final Six. And they can thank Dawid Konarski and Michal Kubiak, who scored a combined total of 25 points. Milad Ebadipour Ghara managed a team-high 8 points for Iran on the other side of the net.

Seven blocks and four aces for Poland, to Iran’s six and zero, sealed the deal as Iran committed 20 mistakes and were no match for the ruthless hosts.

Both teams headed into the final week-end with the same record : three victories, four defeats. Neither had much of a choice : a win was the “only” requirement to keep the chances of heading to Brazil’s Final Six in Curitiba alive.

And it was the home side who start the stronger, showing a lot of character as Mateusz Bieniek blocked and Konarski spiked (13-7). But Iran, who dominated Belgium and Argentina earlier in the competition, are no pushovers and proved just that as Milad Ebadipour Ghara lead the way (16-10). In front of a partisan crowd, however, Poland turned on the style as Kubiak landed a powerful spike, giving the home nation a confortable lead going into the business end of the first set (22-17). And Konarski continued his one man show, giving his side a 1-0 lead (25-17).
More of the same in the start of the second set as Poland strided to a 5-1 lead early on. A reversed call from the referee put Iran back into the game and Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi got them back into contention (11-10). The Europeans though had produced some wonderful volleyball in the beginning of the game and there were shades of that performance as they hit back immediately (20-15). Another deft combination between Fabian Drzyzga and his middles saw Poland seal the deal (25-18).

Iran finally woke up and fought tooth and nail to get back into the game and recover from their 2-0 deficit. Saman Faezi spiked for his fifth point of the game to give his side a two-point lead (6-8) at the first technical time out. But Poland demonstrated tremendous solidity in defence as they started to snuff out Iran’s threats and they showed plenty of agility and guile in attack to lead 19-16. Iran committed too many mistakes in the end and Bieniek spiked for victory (25-22).