Poland's volleyball players to face Netherlands in European Championship quarterfinal

Poland reach quarterfinals without dropping a set

Poland's women's volleyball team has advanced to the quarterfinals of the European Championship, beating Portugal 3:0 in the round of 16. Having gone through the group stage with a perfect record, the team confirmed its favourite status again against a lower-ranked opponent.

According to SportoweFakty, the match was not without difficulties — Poland trailed 7:11 in the second set and fell behind 0:6 early in the third, but coach Stefano Lavarini's side recovered each time. Substitutes Martyna Czyrniańska and Paulina Damaske improved the reception, while Julia Szczurowska was strong in attack and Maja Koput delivered a key serving run.

In the quarterfinal, Poland will face the Netherlands, who beat Slovenia in a five-set round-of-16 thriller, winning the decider 15:9. The Dutch team are the defending bronze medallists from the previous European Championship and won silver in 2015 and 2017, according to Przegląd Sportowy.

A possible semifinal against Italy

Poland finished the group stage with a clean sweep of wins, which paradoxically could mean facing the strongest possible opponent already in the semifinal. Should the team beat the Netherlands, its likely semifinal rival would be Italy — the same team that eliminated an until-then unbeaten Poland in the quarterfinals of last year's World Championship.

On the other side of the bracket, Belgium played Germany and Turkey played Azerbaijan in the round of 16, while Serbia will face Greece in the quarterfinals.

Polsat Sport commentator Jakub Bednaruk gives Poland a 60-40 chance of reaching the final, though he does not rule out a loss. He said that even in defeat he would not change his opinion of coach Stefano Lavarini, calling him a very good coach who gets the most out of his squad. Bednaruk added that Lavarini's job is arguably harder than that of Serbia's Nikola Grbić, since the Polish coach spends more time teaching, while Grbić manages players who are already established stars.

In his column, Bednaruk also referenced the controversy surrounding Poland's group-stage match against Turkey, whose tie-break performance some observers felt lacked full effort — a suggestion that drew reactions from Serbia and Italy, though the commentator himself does not see it as a major issue.

The Poland–Netherlands quarterfinal is part of this year's European Championship, which is also being hosted in Istanbul.