Brno, Czech Republic, September 3, 2014.  As dramatic events unfolded on Wednesday afternoon at the Vodova sports hall in Brno, eventually Slovenia was the team that joined Poland into the semifinals of the 2014 CEV U20 Volleyball European Championship - Men.  Slovenia overpowered Turkey by 3:2 (25-22, 21-25, 25-22, 22-25, 16-14) in an epic battle at the start of the last competition day in Pool II and positioned itself for a spot in the semis.  However, the Slovenes had to wait for the outcome of the last match of the day.  In a wonderful show of nail-biting drama, great volleyball and fair play, Poland shut out host Czech Republic by 3:0 (25-19, 29-27, 33-31) to open the door for Slovenia.  Romania took the fifth place in the pool beating Belgium by 3:1 (25-21, 24-26, 25-21, 25-13) in what was the last game for both teams at this championship.

Turkey vs. Slovenia 2:3 (22-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-22, 14-16)

Putting in some great effort in spiking and blocking, Slovenia was well in control of the first set.  Turkey tried to follow close behind, but never managed to catch up and lost by 22-25.  In the next set the Turks’ blocking started working and gave them the edge they needed to win by 25-21 and tie the match.  Turkey’s lead went as far wide as three points on several occasions during the third set, but after 16-13 Turkey’s way, the Slovenian attacks were quite more efficient and led to a turnaround that finished with a three-point advantage for Slovenia – 25-22.  In the next set, Turkey once again showed that when its blocking is working, everything is working.  Despite the fact that Slovenia was in the lead through the most part of the set, in the conclusive moments the guys from the Mediterranean showed more character to win by 25-22, having piled up as many as 7 kill blocks in that set.  In the decisive fifth set things worked out in the opposite direction.  Turkey rushed into a 5-1 lead and stayed ahead almost through the end, but finally it was the Slovenes who persevered for the 16-14 win.

Toncek Stern was responsible for an impressive 24 of Slovenia’s points, while Vahit Emre Savas scored 17 for Turkes.

Yigit Gulmezoglu, captain of Turkey:  “We tried everything, but we lost.”

Jan Kozamernik, player of Slovenia:  “It was difficult, because they were resisting.  We had a lot of trouble.  We won, but it is not enough.  We are in second place now, but if the Czechs win two sets tonight, we will be third.”

Erdogan Salih Tavaci, assistant coach of Turkey:  “It was a hard match.  When we lost the first set, we started playing better after the first technical time-out in the second set.  In the third set we led by 16-13, then we made some easy mistakes and we lost the set because of them.  We came back after the second technical time-out in the fourth set and then we played very well.  But in the last set we had a good start, we led by 12-10, but then we made huge mistakes in reception and they won.”

Iztok Ksela, coach of Slovenia:  “It was a good match, but the 3:2 win is not enough for us.  We wanted to win the three points, so I am not happy.  But we had chances for a three-pointer.  We started very well, but in the second set we had many technical mistakes.  Also we had a chance to win in the fourth set, but I have to congratulate to my boys, because we won and we can hope for the semifinals.”

Belgium vs. Romania 1:3 (21-25, 26-24, 21-25, 13-25)

Since this was their last match of the European Championship both teams obviously wanted to finish on a high note.  However, the Romanians seemed to have greater desire to win the match, while Belgium made far too many mistakes and was able to put up a tough fight only in the second set.  In addition to the opponent’s errors, the good Romanian blocking was what made the difference for the final 3:1 (25-21, 24-26, 25-21, 25-13).

Romania’s captain Adrian Aciobanitei contributed a fantastic 29 points towards the victory, while Jelle Decoene and Robbe Vandeweyer with 12 points each were Belgium’s top scorers.

Joel Banks, head coach of Belgium:  “I think it is a learning experience for us.  My players gave everything they have in this tournament.  We have clearly come up here for better results, we hoped for the next stage and I think that one more win would have sent us there.  We cannot be disappointed with the effort and the energy that we have invested.  We are obviously disappointed with finishing bottom.  But if you look at the teams that we had, we can be very proud of the work that we have shown.”

George Valentin Grigorie, head coach of Romania:  “It was a great tournament for us.  We participated again after 28 years.  So we must be happy.  We are happy for this win too, but we are not satisfied with our other results.”

Poland vs. Czech Republic 3:0 (25-19, 29-27, 33-31)

Both teams enjoyed enthusiastic and noisy support from the stands while putting up quite a fight on the court.  The first set was very tight through 17-17, after which Poland managed to break away to 21-17 on Bartlomiej Mordyl’s serve.  The Czechs responded with two points in a row, but then it was Bartosz Bucko’s serves that created many problems for the home team and led to the final 25-19, shaped up by Bucko himself with a back-row hit on target.  The Czech guys entered the second set even more motivated and managed to open a 6-point gap at 15-9.  After 20-14 is when the Polish comeback started.  The Poles saved two set points after 22-24.  Then the Czechs in turn saved three set points for the opponent, but on the fourth one Bucko’s serve once again made life difficult for the home guys and Aleksander Sliwka put an end to the set with a powerful pipe spike for 29-27.  The third set was even more dramatic.  Despite the setback, the home heroes fought bravely and once again maintained a lead through the most part of the set.  However, the Polish team once again managed to catch up to prompt a nail-biting ending that went well into extra time.  After several exchanges of set points, eventually Tomasz Fornal aced for 33-31, serving the ball at a speed of 105 km/h, broke the home fans’ hearts and prompted the celebration of the Slovenian team on the stands.

Poland’s Bartosz Bucko with 21 points and Czech Republic’s Donovan Dzavoronok with 19 points were the top scorers of the match.

Martin Tibitanzl, player of Czech Republic:  “It was a nervous match, but we did not handle it.  We were poor and mentally down in the ends of the sets and this was decisive.”

Krzysztof Bienkowski, player of Poland:  “It was perfect that the fans of Slovenia supported us.  Sometimes they were a little bit louder than the Czechs.  I am really enjoying the win, because we are here for the medals.  We did not really expect that we would lose only one point in the pool stage.”

Jindrich Licek, head coach of Czech Republic:  “It was an amazing match, but Poland was better than us.  We fought as much as we could, but they had more confidence.  It is not possible to win a match like this by power.”

Jacek Nawrocki, head coach of Poland:  “This was our best match.  We did not make too many mistakes as in previous matches.  We played well in each element.  We did not calculate to eliminate the Czechs, but we decided to play to the max, because the match is the best training before the semifinals.”