This morning Great Britain took on Poland at the World ParaVolley Sitting Volleyball World Championship and came out victorious against the hosts in front of a passionate local crowd.

The opening set of the day proved frustrating for GB who had similar problems in other games this week. Having traded points for the majority of the set, Poland pulled away at the end to secure it 25-21. 

The second set followed the same pattern and there was never more than a couple of points between the 2 sides. At 24-22 the hosts thought they had won the set after a big block but the referee ruled there had been a lift to allow GB back into it. The girls never looked back and despite a let being called twice at 25-24, the team held their nerve to win 26-24 and secure their first set of the week.

The set was exactly what GB needed and they played with much more confidence for the rest of the game. In the 3rd set, Martine Wright had a good run of serves which was especially satisfying as earlier in the match the referee had twice penalised her for lifting at the serve. The scores were level as the teams reached 10 points but GB dominated the second half of the set to take it 25-14.

In the fourth set the lead again fluctuated in the early stages with GB at one point leading 8-7 only to then trail 13-10. From there though GB were clinical in everything they did and really took control of the set. Some strong serving from Jodi Hill helped extend GB’s lead and in the end they ran out 25-15 winners.

The 3-1 win was a satisfying result and now gives the team the opportunity to face Japan who finished 6th in Pool B in the 9-12th playoff semi-final. Having lost to Japan twice at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, the team are relishing the opportunity to play them again and see the progress they have made.

The squad are supported by Dream It, Believe It, Achieve It, a charity partnership announced earlier this year. You can support the squad by downloading the splash the cash shopping app to your computer which will allow you to raise money when you shop online at no extra cost to you. http://volleyballengland.org/performance/gb_sitting_volleyball/dba

You can catch all of the action from GB’s next game against Japan live online from 8.30BST tomorrow at http://www.paravolley.pl/Media/livestream/ or follow all the action on the @GBSittingVball twitter account.

A Win for GB in the World Paravolley Championships

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