Luxembourg,  May 29, 2019. Slovenia have struck gold for the second time this CEV Volleyball European Silver League - Women. They beat Greece 3-0, making this their second straight set victory of the campaign. Israel also remained unbeaten, as they beat Georgia in three sets. In the men's tournament Greece fought hard to outplay Hungary, Austria claimed their second win. Romania put Denmark in their place by getting a straight set win - their second in a row as well in the competition.

Men

Pool A

Greece vs. Hungary 3-1 (25-14, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22)

• Greece bounced back from their opening day defeat to Austria with a 3-1 (25-14, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22) win over Hungary Wednesday evening in the Piraeus suburb of Rentis, to keep their hopes alive for a ticket to the final of the men's European Silver League.
• The best Hungary could do was come away with the third set when Greece blew their chance at tying the score at 24-24 after Nikos Zoupani failed to clear the net on his last attack.
• However, it was Zoupani who led the Greek effort, with a match-high 23 points, as Greece dominated play on the net with 12 stuffs to 9 and a 60% (55/91) attacking efficiency to Hungary's 48% (45/93).
• Alpar Szabo was Hungary's best scorer with 14 points.
• Greece, now standing at one win and one loss, next host Austria on Saturday in the return leg of the opening match which the Austrians won in four sets. Hungary, also at 1-1, travel directly to Bosnia & Herzegovina who they beat last week 3-1.

Dimitris Andreopoulos, head coach of Greece: “We hold on to the win and our performance at some moments in the game. At certain moments we lost concentration and Hungary kept pressing us with their service - but we came through for the win. We now look ahead to the match with Austria. They are a strong team without the problems of previous years. This, however, doesn't mean too much for we too are strong and we will fight for the win.”

Bosnia & Herzegovina vs. Austria 0-3 (12-25, 18-25, 17-25)

• Austria made a huge leap towards a ticket for the final of the 2019 European Silver League.
• Austria was better at the beginning of the match, resulting in a 1-6, and 2-9 lead.  The first set was completed in only 23 minutes. 
• At the beginning of the second set, Bosnia and Herzegovina had the advantage (2-0), for the first time in the match. In the following stages, Austria took over the initiative and won25-18.
• The best scorer of the match was Paul Buchegger from Austria with 14 points.
• The match was played in a great atmosphere in Kakanj, a small town with a long tradition in Volleyball.
  

Pool B

Romania vs. Denmark 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 32-30)

• Thanks to their impressive 3-0 victory on away soil in Baku, Romania are topping Pool B with a maximum number of points (six) after two matches played. 
• Romania captain Laurentiu Lica had an excellent game and was the most prolific player of the home team scoring 19 points.
• The opposite Peter Trolle Bonnesen was the best player for the visiting team with 11 points.
• The home team controlled the game for the first two sets. The third part was a tied one, as Denmark were breathing down the necks of Romania - mainly thanks to contribution of better blocks. However, Romania were able to come back to win the set at 32-30.

Danut Pascu, head coach of Romania: “It was very important for us to win 3-0. I am very proud of my players and of what they can achieve. They were able to show to the home crowd what they can do on the Volleyball court and this is important for everyone in our sport.”

Laurentiu Lica, captain of Romania: “We can be satisfied: we showed a good performance, we kept control for the full match. It’s perfect we could close out this game in three sets, since we need to be fresh against Georgia next Saturday.”

Georgia vs. Azerbaijan 1-3 (25-18, 11-25, 11-25, 17-25)

Report to follow soon.

Women

Pool A

Israel vs. Georgia 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-17)

• Israel's top two scorers were the team's oldest player, 36-year-old Anna Velikiy, who scored 17, and 20-year-old Polina Malik, who had 20.
• Israel is now on top of group A, four days before their home game against favourite Romania.
• In the second set Israel overcame a 7-15 deficit to win 25-23.

Greece vs. Slovenia 0-3 (19-25, 24-26, 21-25)

• Slovenia made a huge leap towards a ticket for the final of the 2019 European Silver League with a solid 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-21) away win over Greece before a full house at Vrachati in the northern Peloponnese.
• Slovenia, who now lead Greece 9-0 head-to-head, took control of the situation from the very start as the home side tried in vain to catch up for the whole first set.
• Greece did eventually enjoyed leads in the second and third sets, but on both occasions Slovenia rallied to take charge again. In the second set Greece just managed to cancel two Slovenian set points to level at 24-24 and then allowed Slovenia a 6-0 run to go from 20-18 to 20-24 in the third.
• Anthi Vasilantonaki was by far top scorer of the game on 21 points, but Slovenia, who outplayed Greece across the board, had more choices with Lana Scuka, Darja Eržen and Sasa Planinsec scoring 11 points each.
• Slovenia remain undefeated in Pool B after two matches, as they travel directly to Estonia for their next match on Sunday; Greece now stand at 1 win and 1 loss as they prepare to host Portugal on Saturday.

Alessandro Chiappini, Head Coach of Slovenia: "Today we played very much like a team, united on and off the court. I especially liked the attitude of our team - especially in the second set when we were almost dead but we never stopped playing."

Guillermo Naranjo, Head Coach of Greece: "It's impossible to stay in the game when you make 14 service errors. We know we're not the best team in reception, but today we just made too many errors."

Portugal vs. Estonia 2-3 (25-17, 17-25, 25-23, 25-27, 13-15)

• Initial difficulties from Portugal in defence and block, to Liis Kullerkann attacks, allowed an apparent balance in the beginning of the first set, but afterwards with Barbara Gomes in the service and a greater efficacy in the attack, Chico dos Santos team clearly demonstrated their superiority wining the set by 25-17 with a second-line attack from Marta Hurst.
• Estonia wasn’t very disturbed and kept growing through the second set (15-10). Showing always more efficacy, mainly in service and attack, Estonia returned the previous set score: 25-17.
• Despite trailing 17-20, Portugal were able to tie the score through Barbara Gomes's services and closed a difficult win with an error from Estonia after Marta Hurst served.
• Five consecutive points in attack allowed Estonia to gain a precious advantage (11-6) in the fourth. With growing confidence, Andrej Ojamets team continued to lead the score (19-15) but with Barbara Gomes from the service line and Marta Hurst in attack Portugal tied at 23. An attack from Estonia’s setter Julija Mõnnakmäe allowed the visitors to close the set in their favour: 27-25.
• After a bad start to the tie-break (6-8), Portugal took the lead with a service from Barbara Gomes (10-9) but Estonia reacted and closed the set: 15-13 and match.
• Kristel Moor (EST) was the best scorer of the match with 23 points while Marta Hurst was the best Portuguese scorer with 21.

Kristel Moor (EST) in attack.

Andrei Ojamets, head coach of Estonia: “I think great teams have the tendency to underestimate us, because we come from a less known country and our players aren’t very tall, but sometimes we are able to surprise them. We were better than our opponents in attack and service. We won but we have a lot of work ahead of us, because Greece is very strong and against Slovenia we will have to play better than we did in the first match.”

Jose Francisco dos Santos, head coach of Portugal: “I think we were better than in the first match. There were moments when we were losing by four points and turned the score around so the players are to be congratulated for the attitude shown in those moments. Nevertheless, in the fourth set we made seven errors in  attack and suffered two block points. Without these errors we would have won the set and the match. That’s what we have to rectify but we only achieve that by playing more matches. That’s our goal in this competition: to gain competitive rhythm for #EuroVolleyW.”

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