Nitra, Slovakia, August 31, 2014. Italy achieved its third consecutive victory at the finals of the 2014 CEV U20 Volleyball European Championship - Men, but this time it came after a five-set battle against Bulgaria. In a Pool I match in Nitra, the defending champions overpowered the Balkan team by 3:2 (20-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-15, 15-13). Heavyweight Russia kept rolling with a third straight-set victory, this time against host Slovakia by 3:0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-14). France managed its second shutout in a row. This time the scoreboard was stopped at 3:0 (25-8, 25-19, 25-16) and the victim was Serbia.
Italy vs. Bulgaria 3:2 (20-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-15, 15-13)
The Bulgarian players started the match very well. They served well, put Italy under pressure and won the first set by 25-20. Italy was one step ahead in the second set and led by 24-20 near the end. Bulgaria saved three of Italy’s set points, but eventually the opponent won the second set by 25-23. In the third was the score 19-16 to Italy, but then Nikolay Kartev made two kill blocks in a row, helping Bulgaria to turn the score to 23-20 and win the set by 25-21. The fourth set was under the complete control of Italy and was closed at 25-15 to prompt the first tie-breaker of the competition in Nitra. The fifth set was very close with the gap never exceeding 2 points one way or another. Finally Italy triumphed victorious at 15-13.
Trifon Lapkov became the best scorer of the match with 19 points for Bulgaria, while Tiziano Mazzone was the most prolific Italian with 16 points against his name.
Pavel Ivanov, captain of Bulgaria: "I think we are on the same level with Italy. We lost and we are not satisfied, but one point is important for us and we can still fight for the semifinals. We played a really good match, but we had no luck in the end."
Simone Giannelli, player of Italy: "We did not play very well today. Bulgaria is a strong team, but we made a lot of tactical mistakes. Anyway, the reaction of our team was very good, we came back from one set down and we are happy for the two important points. We want to win the next two matches as well, but we have to play better than today.”
Nikolay Jeliazkov, head coach of Bulgaria: "I am proud of my guys even though we have lost. They played like a team, they fought for every ball and I am really satisfied. We lost, but with our heads up. Maybe Italy had more luck in certain moments, but this is sport. Again, I am proud of my guys."
Michele Totire, head coach of Italy: "It was a very hard match and I am happy that we finally won, because my team did not play good volleyball through the entire match. This game was important, because our next opponent is Russia. It is good for us that we have a rest day after such a long match and now I am going to study the game of Russia."
Russia vs. Slovakia 3:0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-14)
The Russians started very strong and lead by 10-3. They served and blocked very well and won the first set easily by 25-11. Coach Sergey Shlyapnikov changed four players in the second set, but continued to dominate with this line-up and won by 25-19. Russia was too strong for the young Slovaks, pressured them with perfect serving and won the third set by 25-14 to maintain its perfect record in the tournament.
Filip Gavenda was the top scorer of the match with 11 points for Slovakia. All twelve of Russia’s players took part in the game and none of them went into the double digits in scoring.
Martin Jancura, player of Slovakia: "Russia put us under big pressure with its serves. We were not able to receive the balls. We came back a little bit in the second set, because the Russian coach made some changes. We lost, but I think we played better than yesterday. Now we will have a day off and on Tuesday we will have a last chance to fight for qualification to Brno against France. The audience was very good today, I want to thank our fans."
Pavel Pankov, captain of Russia: "We are happy that we have won against the home team in straight sets. We played very well and we are going step by step to achieve our goal which is to win the tournament."
Miroslav Palgut, head coach of Slovakia: "I will be satisfied when we win 20 points in some set. We were close in the second, but we had to attack against a strong block. Russia made 14 block points in three sets which is very good. They also served very well, they made only 10 errors and a record 13 aces. Russia was too strong for us."
Sergey Shlyapnikov, head coach of Russia: "I am satisfied with my team. We played well and I had the chance to put on the court all my players. The game was played before a nice crowd and we enjoyed the atmosphere. My players followed the game plan and we are going to the rest day in a good mood."
France vs. Serbia 3:0 (25-8, 25-19, 25-16)
The French players flew into the game in high tempo, served very well and caused a lot of problems to the opponents. Serbia was not able to find a solution and France won the first set very easily by 25-8. Serbia took a 6-2 lead in the second, but France made a long streak of points and sharply turned things around to 17-10, then winning the set by 25-19. The third set was close in the first half, but French captain Luka Basic came to the serving area and led his team to a 14-10 breakaway. Eventually France won the third set by 25-16, closing it with a five-point run, and holds the third position in Pool I with six points after three competition days.
Mederic Henry topped the scorers’ chart of the match with 14 points for France, followed by teammates Nohoarii Paofai with 13 and Jean Patry with 10. Lazar Dodic was Serbia’s highest scorer with 7.
Stevan Simic, captain of Serbia: "They killed us today with good serves. When you have no reception, it is impossible to play. We played very badly today and I am sad. We will try to recover during the free day and we will try to win some game, because we do not want to finish last."
Lukas Basic, captain of France: "We played well today and I am satisfied. It is an important victory for us, because Serbia is a good team, but today we were simply better. Our goal is to go to the semifinals, so we have to win the next two matches. Tomorrow we will have the chance to rest a little bit."
Sinisa Reljic, head coach of Serbia: "We played badly again, like in the first match. But we must say that we lost against a very good French team and I think it is one of the best teams in the European Championship. They served very well and we could not answer with good reception. Their blocking was also very strong. We have the day off tomorrow and we have to recover. We still have the chance to go to Brno and we will try to achieve that."
Jocelyn Trillon, head coach of France: "I want to congratulate my players, because they played really well and followed the game plan completely. Serbia is a good team, but we did not allow it to play its game. We are in third position behind Italy after three days of competition, but we want to move to the second place and go to the semifinals. We will have the day off tomorrow, but we will have practice to keep the rhythm."
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