In pool N Bulgaria and Brazil plays further while Poland comes back home home. USA overcame Cameroon in tie-break after the interesting battle.
Poland’s dream of medal is over. In the match against Bulgaria Polish team was playing without concentration and belief in themselves as if they already lost the game before it started… It was easy to recognize that Polish players still have in mind their defeat against Brazil and cannot think only about the present match.
Bulgaria which was lucky to take part in the second round and didn’t show any good volleyball at this championship so far played without a tension unlike they were under the pressure. Team of coach Silvano Prandi played easy but effective volleyball. Matey Kaziyski and Vlado Nikolov were spiking in trance and Polish defense didn’t exist. A powerful weapon of Bulgaria was their serve and Poland had serious problems in reception. Kaziyski and his teammates were really enjoying the game. They started the match really concentrated but from one action to another they felt better and better and finally we could see smile on their faces, for the first time during this championship.
Coach Daniel Castellani was making some changes but nothing helped. Bulgaria plays further and Poland comes back home. It is the biggest disappointment at this WCH so far. Poles are reigning European champions and were defending their silver from the previous WCH held in Japan.
Poland-Bulgaria 0-3 (22-25, 18-25, 17-25)
Team squads:
Poland: Nowakowski (8), Winiarski (3), Gruszka (10), Zagumny, Kurek (5), Możdżonek (3), Ignaczak (libero) and Bartman (5), Wlazły (1), Czarnowski, Ruciak (3), Łomacz
Bulgaria: Zhekov (1), Kaziyski (14), Nikolov V. (22), Yosifov (6), Aleksiev (7), Nikolov N. (6), Salparov (libero) oraz Penchev,Sokolov
In pool L Cameroon was close to cause the biggest sensation of this world championship but in the end didn’t manage to keep their pace and was overcome by the favorite. USA had serious problems with their competitors in the first and third set, which after the tough fight and game point by point were won by Cameroon, a team without sponsors and great money but with a huge will to fight and win. Americans played much weaker than expected, only during the second part they demolished their rivals (25-14) and showed their excellence in serve and spike. It was an interesting volleyball “war” between Ndaki Mboulet and Wounembaina against world top-class stars Priddy and Stanley.
However in the tie-break Americans made use of their experience and didn’t allow brave Africans to finish the match with their victory. Thanks to this result USA already got qualified to the third stage of the competition. In order to stay in the rivalry Cameroon has to win over Czech Republic and improve their point ratio, which is rather impossible according to the present shape of Jan Stokr and his teammates.
Cameron-USA 2-3 (25-23, 14-25, 27-25, 20-25, 7-15)
Team squads:
Cameron: Nongny Mefani (12), Kari Adeke (1), Abbas El Hadj (1), Ndaki Mboulet (29), Moussa (1), Wounembaina (17), Fossi Kamto (libero) and Ndongo, Tonemassa Sombang (5), Dolegombai, Feughouo (3)
USA: Anderson (1), Priddy (26), Stanley (27), Hansen (4), Holmes (10), Holt (7), Lambourne (libero) and Lee (1), Lotman (10), Winder
