Nitra, Slovakia, August 30, 2014. France managed to recover quickly from yesterday’s loss to Russia crushing Bulgaria by 3:0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-15) in Saturday’s first match in Pool I of the 2014 CEV U20 Volleyball European Championship - Men in Nitra. Host Slovakia again could not please its fans and was shut out by cruising defending champion Italy by 0:3 (15-25, 16-25, 16-25). Russia did not allow any surprises and closed the second competition day in Nitra with yet another straight-set victory – 3:0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-17) over Serbia.
Bulgaria vs. France 0:3 (17-25, 17-25, 15-25)
France started the match better and built a 12-5 lead with middle blocker Nohoarii Paofai behind the serving line. France had very good net defense and won the first set by 25-17. The Bulgarian players came back from a four-point deficit in the second set to tie the score at 10-10, but France was better in the second half of the set and won it by another 25-17. The French put their opponents under pressure with good serves and digs. Bulgaria could not find a weapon against this rival, made a lot of mistakes and France won the third set by 25-15 to collect its first three points in the tournament.
Luka Basic was the best scorer of the match with 14 points for France. Teammates Nohoarii Paofai and Jean Patry added 11 and 10, respectively, while Bulgaria’s top scorer Velizar Chernokozhev finished with 8.
Nikolay Kartev, player of Bulgaria: "France had very good serving and we were not able to react. We were a little bit nervous and we did not play like yesterday. I do not know why. Now we have to come back and play better."
Luka Basic, captain of France: "We are happy, because we wanted a good reaction after the first match against Russia. We had very good serving and blocking and this was the key of our victory."
Nikolay Jeliazkov, head coach of Bulgaria: "The French played very well today. They served very well. We had lots of problems with reception and our attack was very weak. Later in the match we started to receive better, but our serving did not work. The French players had good reception, their setter distributed the balls very quickly and our blockers were without a chance. It was a well-deserved victory for France."
Jocelyn Trillon, head coach of France: "It was totally different from yesterday, because Russia is one step above all the teams. I agree with my captain, that we won the match with our reception and serving. These two things are more important in volleyball. I am happy, because my players found a way to restart after yesterday’s loss. I hope we will play again like this tomorrow against Serbia."
Slovakia vs. Italy 0:3 (15-25, 16-25, 16-25)
Italy made a perfect start rushing to a 7-0 lead. The Slovakian players woke up and narrowed in to 11-13, but it was not enough. Italy had a strong serve and good defense and won the first set by 25-15. Slovakia took the first two points in the second set, but the opponents quickly leveled the score and had the match under the control, winning the second set by 25-16. Italy was too strong for the young Slovaks in the third set, closing it again at 25-16 and adding another three points to the three from yesterday.
Italy’s Ferdinando Della Volpe and Slovakia’s Michal Petras were the top scorers of the game with 10 points each.
Marek Meciar, player of Slovakia: "I am sure that we can play better... We were nervous in front of the home fans. Italy was very strong today. They had better serving and attack, but I know that we can do better. We are sad, but we will try to fight in next matches of the tournament."
Tiziano Mazzone, captain of Italy: "I am very happy with our performance. I think the Slovakian players were under pressure at home, because I know they can play better. We won two matches in three sets and I am satisfied."
Miroslav Palgut, head coach of Slovakia: "Italy was much better in attack than our team. We had only 33% success rate in attack and we made a lot of errors. I tried to change setters, but they were not playing well today. Italy deserved to win."
Michele Totire, head coach of Italy: "For me the real tournament will start tomorrow. I saw France against Bulgaria and they are a very good team. We played very well today and I am satisfied. My team played better than yesterday, but we can play even better. We need to have a strong match tomorrow against Bulgaria and I hope that my team will play on the same level as today."
Serbia vs. Russia 0:3 (19-25, 23-25, 17-25)
Serbia started well in the match against the big favorite Russia. It played with courage and the score was level at 17-17. But the Russian players showed their class in the end, made some nice blocks and won the first set by 25-19. Serbia lead by 16-11 in the second set, but Russia came back with strong blocking efforts again and finally won the second set by 25-23. The Russians had the third set completely under control, breezing to a 25-17 win and a 3:0 victory.
Russia’s Dmitriy Volkov with 13 points, Victor Poletaev with 12, Ilia Vlasov with 11 and Serbia’s Lazar Dodic with 10 were the top scorers of the match.
Lazar Dodic, player of Serbia: "Russia is the world and European champion and it is a really good team. We saw that it is not easy to beat them even when you are winning. We played much better than yesterday, but in the conclusions of the sets we did not have the self-confidence to finish it off. We lost the first two matches and we need to start winning, because we want to go to Brno."
Pavel Pankov, captain of Russia: "We played badly in the first two sets, we were not right in the game. Serbia played with heart and it is a really dangerous team. Finally we won, I am satisfied, but we have to play better in the next games."
Sinisa Reljic, head coach of Serbia: "We played a very good much against a strong Russian team. We had a meeting last night after the match against Italy and I think it helped. We gave our maximum against Russia and, even though we have lost, a performance like this can raise our confidence. We will have a very important match against France tomorrow and if we play like we did today we can win. I am very satisfied with our play today. It is not easy to win against Russia, but we could have taken one set."
Sergey Shlyapnikov, head coach of Russia: "Yesterday I said that concentration is very important. We were not concentrated in the first two sets, we made a lot of unforced errors and our opponent used it. I needed to speak to my players and wake them up. After yesterday, our players think after that they will win without hard work, but that is not possible."
All matches of Slovakia in Nitra are streamed live on huste.tv.
Click here for schedule, results, standings, statistics, photos and more...