Luxembourg, September 12, 2019. Hot on the heels of the success of EuroVolley Women that concluded last weekend, the men's tournament swang into action Thursday with Pool A in Montpellier and Pool C in Ljubljana each hosting three matches. With Pool B in Belgium and Pool D in the Netherlands due to commence Friday, both went through their final preparations and media meetings where the worlds international media had their time with the Coaches and Captains from both teams - find more on the event website https://eurovolley.cev.eu.
Click here for a comprehensive TV schedule of the matches due to take place on Friday, September 13.
As with the women's event, CEV EuroVolley 2019 Men is covered on a dedicated event website offering further enhanced Match Centres for fans to follow matches at their leisure
Pool A
• Bulgaria took 78 minutes to get the job done in straight sets against Greece in the opening match of EuroVolley 2019.
• Tsvetan Sokolov proved once again a great asset to Bulgaria’s well-organised selection top-scoring 17 points towards the victory.
• Italy were quick to dismiss Portugal in the day’s second match in Montpellier cruising to a 3-0 win in 80 minutes of play.
• Experienced Ivan Zaytsev was Italy’s key player in the match contributing 18 points to the team’s success.
• Almost 5,000 spectators cheered on, as hosts France opened their home EuroVolley campaign with a comprehensive 64-minute shutout of Romania.
• Stephen Boyer pleased the home crowd with a string of 18 points, which placed him on top of the scorers’ chart of the match.
BUL vs GRE
POR vs ITA
FRA vs ROU
Pool C
• Russia largely dominated their EuroVolley opening match against Turkey in Ljubljana winning three of the sets by wide margins and letting only set two slip away mostly due to own errors.
• Dmitrii Volkov piled up 16 points, including four aces and two stuffs, to lead all scorers in the game.
• Each of the four sets in Finland’s victory over North Macedonia was tight and competitive, with the southern Europeans managing to come out on top only in set three.
• Tommi Siirilä made five of Finland’s 15 blocks, which proved key to the successful outcome, while his teammate Urpo Sivula was the overall best scorer of the match on 17 points.
• Before a crowd of almost 4,500 spectators, host Slovenia left no doubts over their superiority in the game against Belarus, which they got wrapped up in 80 minutes and straight sets.
• Three Slovenians, Jan Kozamernik, Mitja Gasparini and Tine Urnaut, shared the top scorer honours of the match, hammering 12 points apiece.
TUR vs RUS
FIN vs MKD
SLO vs BLR
In what was the rally of the day, French outside spiker, Julien Lyneel, saved the ball whilst standing on the scorer's table:
Meanwhile, in Pool B and Pool D getting underway on Friday in Brussels and Rotterdam, respectively, media meetings were held, where team coaches and captains expressed their expectations of the upcoming event. Everyone is ready and fired up hoping to make the next stage of the European Championship, at the very least.
“We need to make a strong start against Austria. Taking a win in the first match is essential to get into the right flow for competing against Germany on Saturday. After that we hope to face Serbia in a battle between two undefeated teams playing for the top spot in our pool,” said Belgium’s opposite Hendrik Tuerlinckx.
"We are focused on the mentality of staying strong from the beginning to the end of each set, regardless of whether we are leading or losing,” commented Roberto Piazza, head coach of the Netherlands.