Poland sweeps Brazil to win VNL bronze medal

Outside attacker Bartosz Bendnorz with a medal on the line had his best performance at the FIVB Volleyball Nations League Finals.

Bendnorz finished with both a match-high 15 kills and four blocks as Poland swept Brazil 25-17, 25-23, 25-21 in the bronze-medal match on Sunday in Chicago.

Poland in the victory out-blocked Brazil 14 to 4 and all but two of the Polish starters had multiple blocks. Along with Bendnorz, Lukasz Kaczmarek added three blocks and middle attacker Karol Klos contributed two blocks.

Both Kaczmarek and Klos had seven kills to help Poland secure its first medal at the Volleyball Nations League, or the annual tournament’s predecessor the FIVB World League, since winning the gold medal in 2012.

Alan Souza coming off the Brazil bench finished with a team-high eight kills in the loss.

Brazil was playing in the bronze medal after a five-game loss to the United States in the semifinals. This is the second consecutive year that Brazil lost the bronze-medal match after winning back-to-back silver medals in 2016-17.