Poland stay perfect with eight out of eight in the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League

Poland are the only unbeaten team after the second week of the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League, having won all their eight matches played so far and dominating the standings at this point of the preliminary round of the competition.

Two other European sides, Türkiye and Italy, are on the third and fifth places in the standings, after they have both clinched six wins and lost two matches respectively, with a fluctuating form so far.

Once again, opposite spiker Magdalena Stysiak was absolutely superb for Poland throughout the second week of competition, scoring at least 19 points in the wins against Serbia, Germany and the United States of America, despite placing only seventh in the top scorer standings.

In the four matches played last week in Arlington, United States of America, Poland dropped only two sets, in their 3:1 wins against Serbia and hosts USA, winning in straight sets against the Republic of Korea and Germany.

So far, Poland have dropped only two sets and have conceded the lowest number of points, delivering some fantastic performances in a well-executed manner, improving vastly from their previous performances at the CEV EuroVolley 2023 Women, when they finished only fifth, conceding a loss in the quarter-finals.

Poland are only matched by South American powerhouse Brazil in the competition so far, as Brazil also have eight wins in eight matches, as the two teams will face off on 12 June, when the competition resumes with Pools 5 and 6.

The MVP of the CEV EuroVolley 2023 Women, Türkiye’s Melissa Vargas, was once again superb, as she had outstanding performances this week, scoring 23 points against Germany, 31 points against Serbia, 16 points against Korea and 27 points against USA. Vargas leads the top scorers standings with 187 points, 26 more than Japan’s Sarina Koga, who is second.

Türkiye bounced back after finishing with a 2-2 record after the first week, winning all four matches, as Davide Santarelli’s team fired from all cylinders in Arlington, securing 3:1 wins against Germany and Serbia, a 3:0 win against Korea and a hard-fought 3:2 win against USA, which came after the American team took the fourth set, 25:12, only for Türkiye to secure a 15:12 win in the final set.

Despite superstar Ekaterina Antropova playing a diminished role in these matches, Italy also recorded three wins, to have a 6-2 record, after securing wins against France (3-0), China (3-0) and the Dominican Republic (3-0), only their clash against Brazil seeing the European side concede a loss, 2:3.

The Netherlands (4-4) and Serbia (3-5) also hold chances to progress to the Final Round, where the first seven teams in the standings plus hosts Thailand will progress.

The final week will take place in Hong Kong, China and Fukuoka, Japan, where Poland face the sternest challenges so far, matches against Brazil and China, while Türkiye meet Brazil and China.