Saitama, Japan, November 19, 2006: Poland romped to a third straight win in Pool A at Saitama Super Arena on Sunday, crushing Egypt in straight sets.
The Poles came home 25-13, 25-19, 26-24 with another high-speed display of power spiking and blocking, and will be confident of heading to Sendai for the second round with a perfect 5-0 record if they maintain this blistering form. Egypt dropped to 1-2.
Poland started the match the way they left off against Argentina on Saturday, and rushed to the first set 25-13 in 20 minutes.
Michal Winiarski and Mariusz Wlazly both scored five points, and middle blockers Daniel Plinski and Lukasz Kadziewicz had three, as did the inspirational Sebastian Swiderski.
The Poles had six block points in the first set as they cut off the fiery Egyptian attack, whose left-handed ace, Ahmed Abd Elnaeim, was restricted to just two points. To highlight the Poles' superiority, no Egyptian player scored more than two points in a one-sided first set.
The Egyptians stayed close for much of the second set, despite the clear gulf in class between the two teams. Winiarski was in his usual aggressive form, and an attempted block by Saleh Youssef that fell wide produced a wry smile from the Egyptian.
Another example of Poland's great control, technique and rapid-fire attack was when Egyptian ace Elnaeim served a left-handed firecracker. Winiarski's almost nonchalant reception was perfect for setter Pawel Zagumny to tee up Plinski for a crashing winner at the net; the counter-attack had been as quick as Elnaeim's blistering serve.
Poland's Argentine coach, Raul Lozano, used the second set to give some of his bench players a chance, with both Lukasz Zygadlo and Grzegorz Szymanski coming on and maintaining the blue waves of attacks.
Trailing 23-18, Egypt called a TO to delay the inevitable, and returned looking relaxed and full of smiles as they realised they had nothing to lose and should try and appreciate the volleyball lesson they were receiving.
Egypt's captain, Hamdy Awad, scored on the left to stem the flow of points, before Swiderski brought up set point with a crashing winner from the back court, 24-19.
The Poles did not hang around, and a bullet serve from Kadziewicz which whistled past Awad closed the second set 25-19 for 2-0. Poland went off the boil in the third set as Egypt relaxed and started going for their shots. This enabled Egypt to sneak in front on occasions, and brought chants of "Polska" from the red-and-white clad Polish fans around the arena.
Mohamed Gabal shook the Polish defence with a fierce spike on the right, and then tipped one over into space from the other wing to keep the Poles thinking.
Egypt needed a TO trailing 20-18 in the third set, and still made life uncomfortable down the stretch as Gabal took up the attack. The Polish block was back to its best, though, and the European power finished the match 26-24, despite a late rally from the north Africans highlighted by some sizzling serves from southpaw Elnaeim.
