Poland vs. Egypt match report – 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship – 1st match
The Basket Sports Hall in Turkish City Ankara provided the ground for an incredible volleyball match on Friday, August 12. Teams from Poland and Egypt clashed in the opening match of the 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship prelims. Poles cleaned swept
the opponents by posting 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, and 26-24). It was first match in Pool A of the 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship. The most highlighted player in Polish team was outside hitter Aleksandra Wojcik. She played an instrumental role in Poland
victory. She registered match-high 10 points in Poland’s score.
Game was opened by the Egyptians. Farida El Askalany of Egypt used full power of her forearms and spiked the ball in Polish half. Two of her shots deceived the Polish players and perfectly landed on the court. The scoreboard showed Egypt’s two points in
the early minutes of the game. Egypt took a good start but couldn’t keep the same energy. Poland came strong on opponents and fired-back. They hit exquisite shots and scored 8 consecutive points. Poland scored points with leaps and bounds and swiftly covered
the length of first set. The better combination of attack, block and serve led Poland to success in first set. Egypt could only score 13 points in the first set.
Second set also had a sort of symmetry with the previous set as Poland dominated the Team Egypt. Ewelina Janicka of Poland was known for her impressive blocking. She restricted Egyptian team to a low score. Poland added 8 points, while Egypt was yet to be
on board. Polish setter Natalia Gajewska was quick at floating the ball with perfect timing. It made it quite easy for attackers to hit unstoppable spikes. Meanwhile, Egypt scored some points but trailed behind Poland anyway. Poland won the second set by throwing
25-16 on the scoreboard.
Egypt improved on reception and hitting in the third set but didn’t get a chance to come back in the team. Polish team proved to be better in every aspect of the game and declared match victory with success in third straight set of the match.
Head Coach of Egyptian side, Ahmed Mohamed expressed his views after the match. He said: “Poland is a very good team. Unfortunately, most of our players were out of their performance. We changed 3 players in the last set line-up which brought the game closer.
If we could win the third set may be the match could go another way.” The Captain of Egypt Farida El Askalany stated the cause of failure. She told that the Junior World Championship in Peru kept most of the players busy and they only got one-week for preparation.
Egypt couldn’t have performed better if they had prepared well.
Polish Coach Andrzej Pec was satisfied with his team’s performance. He congratulated them for victory in the opening match of the tournament. However, he urged the team to improve on reception as the team had problem receiving the ball in third set.