By Rohith Nair
PARIS (Reuters) – European champions Poland stormed into the Olympic men’s volleyball final with an extraordinary five-set win over the United States on Wednesday, giving themselves a chance of winning a first gold medal since 1976.
Wilfredo Leon was Poland’s hero with 26 points as the European side weathered an American comeback midway through the match to win 25-23 25-27 14-25 25-23 15-13.
Poland, who had fallen in the quarter-final stage at every Games since 2004, will now play either Italy or defending champions France in the gold medal match.
“We were ready to have a long game today. You know that they fight hard and they did, so that’s all we were expecting. Unfortunately for them we won this match, so I’m really happy and excited,” Leon said.
“You can imagine how hard I was fighting for being in this tournament first and then to arrive in the final. Now we are in the final. This game is done already, so we need to be focused now on the final match,” Leon added.
“Believe me, we will make a big step in history. On my personal part I will make a big step in history too, so I cannot wait for it.”
Leon set the tone on the very first point of the match with a kill, while a long and intense rally won by the U.S. midway through the opening set forced both teams to take a short breather as the crowd roared its approval.
Poland took the first despite the Americans saving three set points, but the second set was neck-and-neck right to the very end.
U.S. DRAW LEVEL
At 25-25, American libero Erik Shoji, who has been playing in Poland for three years, set up a spike for Matthew Anderson with an outrageous dig for set point before Marcin Janusz made a block error from Aaron Russell which drew the U.S. level.
The Americans turned the match on its head with a dominant third set in which they kept the ball alive with eight digs while Poland, struggling with injuries, failed to make a single block.
Poland briefly led in the fourth, but their heads began to drop when the U.S. surged ahead.
Coach Nikola Grbic’s timeout for a quick pep talk worked wonders, however, as Leon stepped up and pulled Poland ahead with a kill and an ace before Tomasz Fornal forced a decider to put their Olympic dream back on track.
That was all Poland needed to lift their spirits. As the U.S. made errors in the final set, it was the European champions that advanced on their fourth match point, when an attempted block off Leon’s attack went long.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Paris; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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