KATOWICE. The Polish national volleyball team recorded its first victory in the Silesia Cup 2026 tournament. After the defeat by Serbia, Nikola Grbic's team overcame Ukraine with a 3:1 (22:25, 25:23, 25:23, 25:21) win in their second match of the competition, played in Katowice.
The success kept the Poles in the fight for the trophy before the last day of the tournament. Bulgaria leads with 5 points after two victories, Serbia and Poland each have 3 points, while Ukraine remains without points. On Saturday, the matches Serbia – Ukraine and Poland – Bulgaria are scheduled.
Ukraine won the first set after strong blocking and good performances from Dmytro Yanchuk and Ilya Kovalov. In the subsequent sets, however, the hosts improved their serve and net play, and Bartosz Gomulka led the team to the comeback with 21 points.
The third and fourth sets were extremely contested, but Poland showed more stability in decisive moments and reached the final success.
Top scorers:
Bartosz Gomulka 21, Szymon Jakubiszak 10 for Poland
Dmytro Yanchuk 15, Ilya Kovalov 14 for Ukraine
For the match against Ukraine, coach Nikola Grbic made significant changes to the squad compared to the game against Serbia. Oleksandr Shlyvka, Jakub Firszt, Szymon Jakubiszak, Bartosz Gomulka, Granneczny (libero), Chunnaitis (libero), and Serafin entered the game.
So far, in the first two matches of the Silesia Cup for Poland, a total of 20 volleyball players have participated: Majchrzak, Nasewicz, Kedos, Lemanski, Sawicki, Bakaj, Fiałek (libero), Dulski, Grabek, Zych, Nowak, Przybyłkowicz, Kendzerski (libero), Shlyvka, Firszt, Jakubiszak, Gomulka, Granneczny (libero), Chunnaitis (libero), and Serafin. From this group, Grbic will choose the squad for the last match against Bulgaria.

The match was watched by Ukraine's two resting stars - Oleh Plotnytskyi and Vasyl Tupchii.