This story was originally published by Dead Spin
PARIS — Poland beat Slovenia in men’s volleyball on Monday to finally cross the quarterfinal hurdle having been eliminated in the last eight at every Olympics since 2004, while hosts France mounted a sensational comeback to beat Germany.
Poland will next play the United States, who later beat Brazil 26-24, 28-30, 25-19, 25-19 in the last quarterfinal on the back of 20 points from Matthew Anderson and 16 from TJ DeFalco.
Gold medalists in 1976 and semifinalists in 1980, Poland had failed to reach the medal rounds for 44 years. They had also fallen in the quarterfinals in Athens, Beijing, London, Rio and Tokyo but are now the No. 1-ranked team in the world.
Led by last year’s EuroVolley MVP Wilfredo Leon’s 20 points (14 kills) and opposite spiker Bartosz Kurek’s 19, Poland’s players got emotional after their 25-20, 24-26, 25-19, 25-20 victory over Slovenia.
“I think the tears described it best. I know how difficult it is after playing great volleyball in the group stage to keep it (going) in the quarterfinals,” middle blocker Jakub Kochanowski said.
“Every Polish national team in volleyball in previous Olympic Games were playing great volleyball in the pool stages and, as the favorite in the quarterfinal, it’s very difficult to keep it.
“Maybe that was the spell (to break), to not play the greatest volleyball in the group stage, but being mentally tough and showing the best volleyball from the quarterfinal.”
Poland finished second in Pool B behind Italy, who had a perfect record with three wins to top the group.
Roared on by a loud crowd, Poland’s players sank to the floor when a Slovenian spike went long on match point. They also had Iga Swiatek in attendance and the delighted tennis World No. 1 celebrated the victory with the players on court.
“It is really difficult to keep the mental toughness and energy throughout the whole game, it doesn’t matter if it’s three sets, four sets or five sets,” Kochanowski added.
“We had situations today that could end up in a different way, but it didn’t thanks to the crowd. They did a hell of a job.”
FRANCE FIGHT BACK
Defending champions France found themselves 2-0 down against Germany but, cheered on by the home support at the South Paris Arena 1, fought back to progress to the semifinals with an enthralling 18-25, 26-28, 25-20, 25-21, 15-13 victory.
Five Germans hit double figures for points but France’s Earvin Ngapeth (21 points) and Trevor Clevenot (20) stood tall to carry the hosts into the semifinals, where they will face Italy.
The quarterfinal between Italy and Japan also went the distance as the European side made a thrilling comeback from two sets down to win 3-2.
Japan had match points, but it was Italy who kept their cool under pressure to come out on top with a 20-25, 23-25, 27-25, 26-24, 17-15 victory, led by 6-foot-9 outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto’s 24 points, which included 22 kills.
“It was distressing. They are an incredible team,” Italy’s Simone Giannelli said.
“I said it before the Olympic Games, whoever meets Japan will be fatigued. We met them and I knew it would be a match like this.”
–Reuters, Special to Field Level Media
