2018 FIVB MEN’S VOLLEYBALL NATIONS LEAGUE – WEEK 2/POOL 8
- June 1st-June 3rd, 2018
- Łódź, Poland | Atlas Arena (Capacity: 13,805)
- Time Zone: Central European Summer Time (UTC +2)
- World Rankings: #3 Poland, #9 France, #10 Germany #20 China
- Preview
- Schedule/Results
| Date | Time | Score | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Jun | 16:00 | Poland  |
3–0 |  France |
25–19 | 25–20 | 25–22 | 75–61 | P2 P3 | ||
| 1 Jun | 19:00 | China  |
1–3 |  Germany |
25–23 | 18–25 | 22–25 | 21–25 | 86–98 |
Poland def. France 3-0
- Poland def. France 25-19, 25-20, 25-22
- Poland moved to 4-0 (12 points); France moved to 3-1 (9 points)
Nine blocks and 24 French errors as well as a key substitutionary effort by Dawid Konarski lifted Poland to a sweep of France and a perfect 4-0 VNL mark.
Poland edged France in every statistical category: kills (37-35), blocks (9-4), aces (5-4) and points off errors (24-18).
Jakub Kochanowski (11) led a group of four Polish players with nine or more points in the match. Michal Kubiak (10), Bartosz Kurek (9) and Mateusz Bieniek (9) followed. Kurek downed a team-leading eight kills, while Kochanowski, Kubiak, Bieniek added seven apiece. Kochanowski also chipped in a team-best three blocks, while Kubiak added two. Bieniek served up two of the team’s five aces. Konarski played sparingly, subbing in all three sets, notching three kills and a block and taking just four swings, but came up big for the team in crunch time in Set 2.
Stephen Boyer paced France with 13 points (12 kills, 1 block), but played just as a substitute in Set 3. Kevin Tillie chipped in 11 points (9 kills, 2 aces) and Julien Lyneel added seven points (4 kills, 2 blocks, 1 ace). Boyer was replaced in the starting lineup in Set 3 by Jean Patry, who managed just three points, all on kills. France was without week 1 top scorer Earvin Ngapeth, setter Benjamin Tinoutti and libero Jenia Grebennikov, who were all left at home. Trevor Clevenot, who was added for Week 2, did not play.
Poland trailed by as many as six in Set 2 when it turned to Konarski to save the day. He delivered two kills to kick off a 9-0 run for the Poles, turning a 17-13 deficit into a 22-17 lead. Bieneck also served up two aces in the rally. After that Poland closed out the 25-20 win.
In Set 3, Poland looked to Kubiak and Kurek to lead the way in a 25-22 win to cap the match.
Germany def. China 3-1
- Germany defeated China 23-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-21
- Germany moved to 1-3 (3 points); China moved to 1-3 (4 points)
Chuan Jiang turned in a match-high 24 points for China, but it was not enough to lift the team to an upset of No. 10 Germany.
The Germans picked up their first VNL win, edging China at the net: 50-45 in kills and 11-8 in blocks. Germany also boasted a 6-4 lead in aces, but gave up 31 points on errors (to just 29 for China).
Christian Fromm led a balanced offensive attack for Germany that saw five players notch seven or more kills. Fromm posted 19 points (16 kills, 2 blocks, 1 ace), while Simon Hirsch (13), Marcus Bohme (12), Tobias Krick (11) and Moritz Reichert (9) followed. Krick downed 10 kills, while Hirsch and Bohme added eight apiece and Moritz chipped in seven. Hirsch guided the team’s net defense with four stuffs, followed by Bohme’s three.
Jiang accounted for 21 of China’s 45 kills, and also added two blocks and an ace. Libin Liu was next on the team with eight kills to go with two blocks and two aces. Shuhan Rao tacked on nine points with six kills and a team-leading three blocks.
China rallied to a 12-10 advantage in Set 1 and carried on to the 25-23 win. Fromm took over from there, guiding Germany to victory.
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