The Polish and fellow Europeans the Netherlands make it to the next round, while the Qataris and Romania are eliminated
Kamil Semeniuk was Poland’s most productive player against Qatar, with 13 points
Poland’s second victory in the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship on Monday sealed the fates of the four national teams competing in the tournament’s Pool B, with the FIVB World Ranking leaders and the Netherlands advancing to the Round of 16, while Romania and Qatar are set to end their participation in pool play.
Two days after downing Romania in their debut, the reigning Volleyball Nations League champions returned to the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City and produced another sweep, this time beating Qatar 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-19) to confirm their qualification for the elimination rounds.
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With the first two rounds of pool play completed, Poland and the Netherlands, which earlier on Monday took Romania down 3-0 (25-23, 26-24, 26-24), have each six points and are guaranteed to break pool, while Qatar and Romania are out of contention after not collecting any points so far.
The Polish managed to rotate their squad against the Qatari and had outside hitter Kamil Semeniuk as their leading scorer with 13 points (11 kills, two aces). Middle blocker Jakub Kochanowski and opposite Kewin Sasak came next, with eight points each.
“In matches like this, we just try to focus on our level and not underestimate our opponents,” Kochanowski remarked. “I think that if we play at our best level, we don’t have to worry about the score. Qualifying was our first goal here, and now we just take it match by match. We’re on a good path, and I believe we can go far in the tournament.”
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Competing in the World Championship for just the second time in history, Qatar got eight points from each of middle blocker Pape Diagne, who registered six kills, one block and one ace, and outside hitter Nikola Vasić, who got his entire production in kills.
“We just tried to do our best against such a strong team,” Pape reflected. “The coach is pushing us to get better every day here. We all need to learn more, and playing teams of this level makes you push harder and improve. We’re a young team and we want to do better next time.”
Poland’s smooth performance showed in the stats, as the Europeans dominated the Asians in all accounts, outscoring them in kills (37 to 34), blocks (eight to three), aces (four to two) and opponent errors (26 to 15).
2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship: Match Schedule & Results
The disputes for first and third places in Pool B will take place on Wednesday, with Qatar playing Romania at 10:30 local time (2:30 GMT) and Poland facing the Netherlands at 18:00 (10:00 GMT).
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