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Weekend 6
Egypt impressed Poland
crowd as they lost narrowly their last pool match
 Bydgoszcz, Poland, July 20, 2008- Compared to the day
before, Egypt showed much more fighting spirit and some
serious serving skills and stole one set from Poland,
who won their last Intercontinental Round match 3:1
(25:20 25:23 23:25 25:23). Piotr Gruszka with a total of
21 scored points was chosen as the MVP of the match.
Poland finished their matches at the top of the pool
with a record of 9-3 and qualified to the finals of the
World League in Brazil, while Egypt finished theri
matches with a record of 3-9.
Poland's second home match against Egypt started much
more vigorously than the day before. No spoiled serves
and greater determination on Egypt's side resulted in a
more balanced game. Egypt managed to get a one point
advantage (3:4) for a moment, compared to none
yesterday. The first TTO was 8:6 for Poland. Since then,
Poland started pulling away from Egypt, with better
attacks and successfully defending against Egyptian
attempts to spike. After Michal Winiarski's service ace
set the score to 15:10, the Egyptians managed to steal 3
points in a row. 16:13 in the 2nd TTO. This was the
closest Egypt could get till the end of the set, when
Mohamed Gabal's service hit the net, giving the set
25:20 to Poland.
Both of the first sets were marked with great
performance of Poland's team captain and reserve spiker
Piotr Gruszka, who had a 100 percent accuracy in attack
(10 out of 10). The second set was not very different
from the first one. 8:6 and 16:14 in TTOs, with Poland
on a decisive lead and Egypt getting closer at the
moments when Polish players were losing their focus. One
such moment occurred at the end of the set. Poland was
only half a step ahead: 20:20, 21:21, 22:22, but managed
to put themselves together and eventually won 25:23.
In the beginning of the 3rd set Egypt broke through
Polish defenses again (4:5) and stayed there till the
1st TTO (6:8). After that Poland lost 3 more points,
finding it difficult to receive Mohamed Elnasr's
service. Coach Lozano wanted to save the situation,
making two substitutions before the 2nd TTO (12:16).
Gruszka's hard work made Egypt's advantage shrink to
16:18, despite excellent performance of Egyptian
receiver Mohamed Badawy, who entered the court for good
in this set. To coach Zakaria's surprise, a moment later
the scoreboard showed 19:18 for Poland. The crowd
cheered for the serving player Michal Bakiewicz (who, by
the way, is a native citizen of Bydgoszcz city). Abdalla
Ahmad's powerful serves set Egypt on the lead again.
Michal Bakiewicz's single block set Poland equal against
Egypt (23:23), but it was the African team who took the
first set-ball and Elnasr put it to good use. 23:25.
The fourth set started with two great serves by Ahmed
both over 110 km/h, including one ace. Today this skinny
setter was really showing what he can do the day before
he was trying not to overwork his recently injured arm.
Poland managed to take the first TTO 8:7 in the last
moment. Egypt engaged in a point-for-point fight with
the White-and-Red team, going almost equal until 12:12
when Poland scored two points one due to a Egypt's
faulty serve. This seemed to be the turning point. After
the TTO of 16:14 Poland started a steady walk towards
the victory, but was interrupted at the set end. Egypt
Team managed to take a one-point advantage for a brief
moment, but the first match-ball was enough to end the
game 25:23.
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