Poland qualified for the final of the men's Olympic volleyball tournament after a dramatic 3:2 (25:23, 25:25, 14:25, 25:23, 15:13) victory over the USA. This comes 48 years after their victory in the final of the Montreal Olympics in 1976. Since then, "Druzyna Polska" (the Polish team) has not participated in the medal distribution.
Wilfredo Leon was outstanding, playing a very strong match just in time to score 26 points (2 blocks and 2 aces) for the win. Huber finished with 15 points and Fornal with 13. Captain Kurek, for whom these Olympics might be his last, scored 11 points. The Poles played without their main middle blocker Mateusz Bieniek, who was injured in the quarterfinals. Bartłomiej Boladz, who came in as the 13th player, scored 2 points.
Matthew Anderson scored 24 points (1 ace) for the Americans.
After exchanging one set each, an inexplicable collapse in the Polish team followed, leading to a catastrophic loss of the third set with 14:25. In the fourth set, the two teams battled fiercely, and after 16:16, there were five more ties (17:17, 18:18, 20:20, 21:21, 22:22). An ace by Leon gave Poland their first set point, which came on the third attempt after an attack by Fornal.
In the tie-break, the Poles played without their injured setter Marcin Janusz. Despite this, they took a three-point lead (8:5). Tomasz Fornal made a pipe attack for 11:8, after which Huber served out. Holt brought his team within a point with an ace, forcing Nikola Grbić to call a timeout. After the break, Jakub Kochanowski finished the attack through the middle for 12:10, and after the subsequent block against Anderson, the score swelled to 13:10. Wilfredo Leon finished his counterattack with a tip in the middle to give the Poles their first match point at 14:11. "Druzyna Polska" missed closing the match twice, after which Leon served out, making the score 14:13. In the subsequent attack, the Cuban with a Polish passport slammed the ball with all his might against the block, sending the Poles to their first Olympic final in 48 years.