Sofia, Bulgaria, April 15, 2018. Russia top Pool I, followed by Slovenia before the third match in that pool is played today. The Russian powerhouse made it rather difficult for the Serbian team in their #EuroVolleyU17W matchup played on Sunday in Sofia, claiming a 3-1 victory and collecting another three points in the group. Serbia let some small errors influence their play, while Russia were more concentrated in the decisive moments. After yesterday’s great battle with Hungary, Bulgaria found troubles in the game with Slovenia and lost 1-3.  The girls headed by Boris Klokocovnik were better in the different aspects of the game and made it clear who deserved the win today. Later in the evening, the team of Belarus claimed a straight 3-0 victory over the Hungarians. The players around head coach Dzmitry Kot dominated the game and deservedly won the last match for the day in Pool I.

Serbia vs. Russia  1-3 (18-25, 25-22, 21-25, 21-25)

•    It seemed that the Serbians were more stable in the first minutes but then Russia reacted establishing their way of play to open the match with a 25-18 set win.
•    Serbia started very well in the second set, but Russia were brave enough to fight for every point and not only equalizing the result but also taking the lead. However, when it seemed that the spectators at “Hristo Botev” sports hall would see a Volleyball “deja-vu” from the first set, Serbia showed strong character and emerged victorious 25-22.
•    The Russian girls were truly dominant in the early stages of the third set, but the battle wasn’t over for Serbia. The players headed by Jovo Cakovic fought until the end. However, Russia were too strong to be beaten and deservedly won 3-1.
•    The CEV President Mr Aleksandar Boričić, the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation President Mr Dancho Lazarov and the Bulgarian Volleyball legend Lyubomir Ganev attended the match featuring some of the future stars of European Volleyball.

Jovo Cakovic, head coach of Serbia: “Congratulations to the team of Russia. They are better than us in this moment, they are more experienced. Their roster is practically the same as the one of last year, when Russia finished second at the U16 European Championship. I think that today we played better and we should keep on preparing for the next matches. We must improve and fix some elementary technical errors in service and defence.”

Svetlana Safronova, head coach of Russia: “Today our players were like a real team. Even though they made simple mistakes, my team looked ahead.”

Bulgaria vs. Slovenia 1-3 (18-25, 25-19, 17-25, 18-25)

•    Bulgaria started well in the match with the captain of the team Maria Yordanova delivering a great performance from the service line (four aces in this part). This was the only moment when Bulgaria displayed a consistent play throughout the set.
•    Although they started better in the second part, the Bulgarian Lionesses let their opponents equalise the result at 10-10 and even take the lead in the successive minutes. However, the support of the fans helped them in the last minutes and Bulgaria levelled the match.
•    It was not the case in the next part, when in the last minutes the attacks of Slovenia made it difficult for their opponents.
•    Losing the third set influenced badly the Bulgarian girls. There were no big problems for the Slovenians who controlled the game from a technical point of view and claimed the victory by 3-1.  

Stojan Gunchev, head coach of Bulgaria: “We had two five sets matches in a row and had problems with our service, the girls couldn’t find themselves and I think that Slovenia deservedly won. We will try to rest tomorrow and to prepare for the next games.”

Boris Klokocovnik, head coach of Slovenia: “I am very happy, because my team today fought for every ball and I think this was the key for the victory. We had support from fans from Slovenia, but my girls also showed great character because there were many more fans supporting Bulgaria.”

Belarus vs. Hungary 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-21)

•    Kseniya Liabiodkina from Belarus was the key player for her team in the first set, performing excellent in attack.
•    Belarus maintained the same level also in the second, dominating the game and without troubles took another set win.
•    Hungary started better in the next set (6-8). Intense play marked all the set but with the result being 22-21 in favour of Belarus, Hungary’s opposite spiker Liliana Berko suffered a serious knee injury.

Dzmitry Kot, head coach of Belarus: “We needed this win a lot, having in mind the loss that we suffered to Russia. I am also happy that we won 3-0 - since in this Pool winning every set is so important.”

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