Monument to Agata Mroz Olszewska. The Polish women lost to Serbia and finished second in the tournament.

When the tournament started in Milec, everything indicated that on Friday, at the end of the tournament, the Poles would face the Serbs in a match between two unbeaten teams. The stake was to win the entire event.

But the opponents needed to win 3-0 or 3-1 to achieve final success.

As the organizers had anticipated, nearly three thousand fans showed up in the stands at Milik. There were a few free seats. What the fans saw in the first set probably exceeded their wildest expectations.

Those who attended the meeting with France the day before may have had a previous experience. On Thursday, in the opening set, the Tricolore scored only 11 points, seven of them thanks to Poles’ mistakes. Now our players made only one mistake. At one point, the Serbs were already losing at 14:24. In the end, they surrendered at 17:25.

However, on this day, the competitors were: the current world champions from 2022, the vice-champions of Europe from 2023, and the bronze medalists from the Tokyo 2021 Olympics.

It was hard to expect the next batch to look the same. The biggest star of the Serbian team is Tijana Boskovic. The 27-year-old from Istanbul’s Ezacebasi district is widely regarded as the best striker in the world.

In the first part she was completely ineffective, but in the second part she played at the level she used to. She scored ten points. It was clear that she felt better with every action. It was a well-known tactic: Boskoball, so the setter directs all the balls to her.

And the Polish woman? The reception was very bad. Libero Aleksandra Szczygłowska performed worse than the previous time. So the attack collapsed. Martina Lukasik did not finish any of the nine attacks, but she was excellent the day before.

Unfortunately, in the third game it was even worse. The Balkan team completely destroyed the Polish team with its serves. Boskovic excelled. The White and Reds had even more problems with the reception, which practically did not work. The rivals easily took advantage of this. They won 25:15.

The next set turned out to be the last. For the most part, it looked like the last. In the end, the home team managed to catch up a bit, but couldn’t make up for the big loss.

In the end, the Serbs won 3:1, thus becoming the best team in the 12th Agata Mroz-Olševska Memorial Tournament. This event is held in memory of the great volleyball player who died of cancer in 2009, but usually with the participation of club teams. Tournaments with the participation of national teams are rare.

The Dominicans came in third and the French came in fourth.

Now the Poles have a few hours of rest and return to training, this time in Spala. On Tuesday in Warsaw the Olympic oath with the volleyball players and departure to Paris.

The third day of the memorial to Agata Mroz-Oleszewska:

Poland – Serbia 1:3 (25:17, 21:25, 15:25, 19:25)

Poland: Wołosz, Mędrzyk, Korneluk, Stysiak, Łukasik, Jurczyk, Szczygłowska (libero) and Smarzek, Wenerska, Czyrniańska, Alagierska, Stenzel.

Serbia: Ognjenovic, Bosa, Kurtajic, Boskovic, Lozo, Aleksic, Popovic (libero), Darka, Ozelac, Milinkovic, Lazovic.

From Milik – Krzysztof Srogosz, eurosport.pl