Luxembourg, June 15, 2019. Greece made it to the CEV Volleyball European Silver League - Men Final with the slightest of margins, beating Austria with just one set to their advantage. Austria did all they could in pursuit of Greece, but their 3-0 win over Hungary was not enough. Romania won their sixth match in a row, proving that they deserve their spot in the Finals. In the process of this year's competition, they have only conceded two sets. On Saturday, they beat Georgia 3-0. In the same Pool B, Denmark reached their fourth victory after setting Azerbaijan aside 3-0. Slovenia had a tough match against Greece for a spot in the final of the women's Silver League, which they won in five sets. Israel now lead Pool A, but Romania still have one match at hand against Cyprus on June 18 to grab the spot in the final. Estonia beat Portugal after giving away a 2-0 lead.

Men

Pool A

Hungary vs. Austria 0-3 (24-26, 21-25, 23-25)

• Three days before this match the two teams met in Graz, and Austria won 3-1.
• The first set was tight until 9-9, then Hungary had a brief good period before Austria took control and won the set by 26-24.
• The second set was a real rollercoaster: Hungary led by 10-7, then the visitors took a 17-13 advantage. The home side came back to 21-22, but Austria finished off the set 25-21 and came close to victory.
• The third set was also close: Hungary led up until the 16-point mark, but the visitors managed to come back and finished the match with a 25-23 victory.
• MVP of the match was Nicolai Grabmüller of Austria). Best scorers were Paul Buchegger (Austria) and Kristóf Horváth (Hungary) with 27 and 25 points, respectively.

Cameron Keen (HUN,9) setting the ball

Cameron Keen, setter for Hungary: “Although we couldn’t win a set today, the match was close. Unfortunately, the Austrian team had some luck at the end of each set. This European Silver League season was a great learning experience for our young team, our main goal is the qualification for the next European Championship.”

Anton Lukas Menner, outside-hitter for Austria: “This game was very important for us, because we would like to get to the Final Four. It was a big fight, but at the end we could beat the pressure as well as the Hungarian team.”

Bosnia & Herzegovina vs. Greece 0-3 (16-25, 20-25, 21-25)

• Greece claimed the coveted ticket to the final of the 2019 Men’s European Silver League.
• This was the first international match Bosnia and Herzegovina played in Lukavac.
• Greece made a 6-0 series on the service of  Konstantinos Stivachtis, to lead 19-10 in the first set.
• Greece played for the next two sets safely, and came to an important victory.
• The best scorer of the match was Nikos Zoupani from Greece with 14 points. He is by far the most prolific player in the competition on a tally of 116 points.

Dimitrios Andreopoulos, head coach of Greece: “This was an important match for us, because we wanted a clean result. We played for the win and a spot in the final of the CEV European Silver League. It was not easy. I am happy. Congratulations to our players. I hope that we will continue to keep this level in the future.”

Edin Bakovic, head coach of Bosnia and Herzegovina: “In this game we were close to achieving a better result but we made too many technical mistakes. We ended this competition that showed us that we still have to learn. We have a young team and I am sure we will play better in the future.”

Pool B

Georgia vs. Romania 0-3 (15-25, 19-25, 15-25)

• Tbilisi hosted both men's and women's national teams of Romania on Saturday.
• The visitors emerged victorious on both occasions. Romania scored their sixth straight victory in Pool B.
• Ciprian Matei scored nine points for Romania.

Mikheil Guniava, opposite of Team Georgia: “It is not easy to play with teams like Romania. We tried to be better in defense but it is hard with attacks like those shown by the Romanian guys. Fortunately, we will have the opportunity to be better than we are today and play on higher level one day. European League games are always very interesting for spectators to watch and that’s why Volleyball in Georgia is getting more and more popular. I hope one day we have no empty seats in our matches.”

Azerbaijan vs. Denmark 0-3 (17-25, 20-25, 18-25)

• Both teams played their last match in the Silver European League in Baku.
• The guests took the first set thanks to excellent performance in their block that eventually helped them to secure the win in the whole match.
• The best scorer of the match was Peter Trolle Bonnesen of Denmark with 12 points to his name.
• Denmark finishes their Silver #EuroLeagueM run with four wins in six matches, but that is not enough to qualify them for the finals.

Javid Suleymanov, opposite of team Azerbaijan: "It was our last game in European Silver League. Denmark is a good team, and today they won by making less mistakes. I hope in next tournaments we will play better."

Kristian Flojstrup Knudsen, head coach of team Denmark: "We showed a good match and Azerbaijan made many mistakes, especially in service. I congratulate my team with victory and good match."

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Women

Pool A

Georgia vs. Romania 0-3 (8-25, 15-25, 19-25)

• Tbilisi hosted both men's and women's national teams of Romania on Saturday.
• The visitors emerged victorious on both occasions.
• With 13 points Rodica Buterez of Romania was the best scorer of the match.

Ann Kalandadze, captain of Team Georgia: “The European League this year brought us a lot of experience. I can say that we did not show our best game during this tournament, but I am sure we will do it next time.”

Israel vs. Cyprus 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-20)

• Israel finish Pool A with five wins in six games, but will need for Romania to lose in Nicosia (June 18) 3-0 or 3-1, in order to qualify for the Silver League finals.
• It was the last game coached by Israel's Giuseppe Cuccarini, who goes back to Italy and will coach VolAlto CASERTA in the highest division of the Italian national league in the coming season. 
• Polina Malik, the third best scorer in the Silver League this far across all pools, finished the game with 15 points. Cyprus' Andrea Charalambous had 10.

The winning team - Israel.

Pool B

Estonia vs. Portugal 3-2 (25-15, 25-11, 22-25, 16-25, 15-13)

• The match was like a rollercoaster ride as Estonia beat Portugal by a large margin in the first two sets: 25-15, 25-11, but then lost their touch.
• Portugal was better in the third and fourth set, taking them by the score of 25-22 and 25-16, respectively.
• The decisive set was again controlled by Team Estonia who had a strong support from 675 fans in the stands.
• Kristel Moor was the best scorer on the winning side with 18 points, while Julia Kavalenka scored 23 times for Portugal. Estonia finished third in Pool B while Portugal ended fourth.

Andrei Ojamets, head coach of Estonia: “This was a team effort – everyone, the players and the coaches were finally able to pull themselves together and we got to finish the season on a positive note.”

Slovenia vs. Greece 3-2 (25-21, 25-15, 20-25, 20-25, 15-6)

Slovenia celebrating reaching the Finals of the 2019 CEV Volleyball European Silver League

• The Slovenians delivered a strong performance from the very start of the match. With solid blocking they easily reached a 24-18 lead, then the visiting team scored three points in a row. After Alessandro Chiappini’s time-out, his team regained the focus and Lana Ščuka closed the set at 25-21.
• The home team continued the match in that pace and stormed over Greece winning the second set at a canter (25-15). The Greeks put up a better fight in the third set and got into the lead at the score of 11-10. Afterwards, they earned a more significant gap (21-14) that forced Slovenia’s head coach to make three changes, yet his team lost the set by 20-25.
• The fourth set started similarly to the previous one. Greece were the better side (20-25) and the teams had to play an all-important fifth set. The Slovenians took advantage of the strong support from the stands and got into a 4-point lead (6-2). Guillermo Naranjo Hernandez called a time-out trying to change the course of the match. Still, his team managed to score only two more points till the end of the match and Slovenia cashed the ticket to the final of the 2019 Women’s European Silver League.
• Anthi Vasilantonaki of Greece top scored with 24 points while Darja Eržen scored 21 for the home side.

Alessandro Chiappini, head coach of Slovenia: "It was a really hard game today, although we started very good, Greece came back into the match. In the third set they changed something, they started playing with more consistency, we lost some control and got a little bit nervous. In the tiebreak it was important we started to play again in our style, my girls regained their focus and I am very happy about that. This win is a big award for our team, we learned a lot today and why not go for the gold in the finals?"

Olga Strantzali, outside-hitter of Greece: "We started the game a bit scared, because of the pressure of the finals. Both teams were strong and I think the luckiest team won. I believe Slovenia were lucky at the end, nevertheless congratulations to Slovenia and good luck in the last two matches." 

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