WARSAW, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Poland's women's volleyball team kept their hopes of qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games alive after beating the United States 3-1 (27-25, 16-25, 25-23, 25-16) in the qualifiers at home in Lodz on Saturday.

Opposite Magdalena Stysiak led Poland to victory with 25 points. Jordan Thompson earned 16 points for the visitors.

Olivia Rozanski spiked to win a tight first set 27-25 for Poland before the U.S. built a six-point advantage in the second set, mainly thanks to Jordan Larson, who fired several dangerous serves. The Olympic champions controlled the match to cancel out Poland's opener with 25-16.

The visitors led the third set until the closing stage where Poland made it 20-20 by a double block. In a key moment, Magdalena Jurczyk delivered an ace, while Monika Galkowska did not miss the target in attack to lead Poland to a 25-23 win.

Poland kept a high pace from the start of the fourth set to jump ahead 5-1 and held their lead throughout the set. Stysiak killed the Americans' hopes to return to the game with two spikes to close out the match.

In the evening, Italy had no problem with beating Germany in straight sets 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-15). Ekaterina Antroponova proved her good form once again, leading the scoring board with 24 points. Lena Stigrot scored 18 for Germany.

Before the last round of the qualifying tournament in Lodz, Italy stayed at the top of Pool C classification but was closely followed by Poland and the U.S., both with five victories and one defeat.

On Sunday, the U.S. will face Germany, while Poland hosts Italy. Two best teams in the group will qualify for the Olympics. Enditem

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