Beijing, China, August 13, 2008 - After a quick start,
Poland lost the their pace and Japanese spiker Saori Kimura (seven points) tied the set. Five errors from Poland in the
middle of the set gave to Japan the opportunity to win the set (25-21).
In the second set the teams switched roles. Poland
started poorly and got the tie at 11-11. Japan reached the second TTO leading
16-13 relying on an amazing intensity in dig and cover. Japanese players gained
a lot of opportunity exploited with smart attack. Head Coach Shoichi
Yanagimoto's team climbed to 21-16 and then closed the set (25-20).
Poland Head Coach Marco Bonitta replaced the Polish
setter Milena Sadurek with Katarzyna Skorupa and confirmed Milena Rosner as hitter. Poland made a
comeback on the third set 25-18. Maigorzata Glinka stepped up to send explosive spikes to
the Japanese side. Katarzyna Skowronska aided the Glinka raid by displaying powerful
spikes on the right and back-row and giving the set point to Poland 25-18.
Japan led most of the fourth set, but choked as they
could not score the last four points of the set for it to finish 25-23.
The Japanese renewed their offence and were more
successful as Poland could no longer repeat their offensive run. Poland
committed errors towards the end as Kimura and Megumi Kurihara took advantage, Japan
finally ending the last set with an outside hit from Kurihara 15-11.
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