30/05/2014 19:00
Slovakia keeps on winning, Estonia upsets Greece
2015 CEV Volleyball European Championship - Men
Rentis, Greece, May 30, 2014. Slovakia cemented their provisional leadership on top of Pool C of the second round of European qualifications cruising to a 3:1 victory (26-24, 25-17, 18-25, 25-17) over Hungary on the second day of action at Melina Merkouri sports hall in the city of Rentis. The second match of the day ended up in a surprise as Estonia beat the home heroes of Greece by 3:1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 25-17) to keep alive their chances of making the Finals of the European Championship. It all comes down now to the matches scheduled for Saturday where Estonia will play the still winless Hungarian team before Slovakia will try to avenge last week’s home defeat in Poprad by taking on the hosts of Greece.
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Slovakia vs. Hungary 3:1 (26-24, 25-17, 18-25, 25-17)
It was a make-or-break bout for Team Slovakia that needed a victory in order to keep alive their chances of making the Final Round of the European Championship while Hungary had nothing to lose and could play without any pressure. Even though Hungary put on a good fight, Slovakia’s quality prevailed in the end for a 3:1 victory and another three points to be added to the tally of the team around Italian-born head coach Flavio Gulinelli.
With some changes to their usual starting six, Hungary surprised a bit Slovakia in the opening set, taking the lead at 14:11; however, Slovakia fought their way back with terrific blocks, levelling the score at 14 all. The remainder of the set was very close and it was Emanuel Kohut who in the end sealed the final 26-24 for the pre-favourites from Slovakia.
Slovakia comfortably controlled the game in the second set (25-17) before Hungary came back strong in the third. They imposed their tempo from the start to the end (25-18) thereby calling for a fourth set. Slovakia then regrouped for the start of the fourth set and jumped out to an 11:4 lead that practically determined the fate of the match, which they wrapped up at 25-17 for the final 3:1.
“This wasn’t our best performance but in the end we are happy with the victory,” Gulinelli said. “We felt a little bit of pressure because we had to win this match and our opponent, on the other hand, was playing with no stress at all. We did not underestimate Hungary; I wanted to rest some of my starting players because this was our fifth match in the last few days.”
“Today I am really happy with the performance of my team,” said Hungary’s head coach György Demeter. “We finally played good Volleyball, especially in the first and third sets. Nobody wants to lose and even though we know that Slovakia stands at a different level, I think that today we did our best.”
Estonia vs. Greece 3:1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 25-17)
Estonia upset the home audience at Melina Merkouri in Rentis by edging the hosts of Greece in their second match of the tournament. The first set was very close up to 16 all, but some mistakes in reception by the home side helped Estonia break away (20:16) and cash the opening set (25-18). The second set followed a similar plot with the teams exchanging the lead back and forth up to 22 all. A superb block by Mitar Tzourits provided Greece with two set balls at 24:22 and Menelaos Kokkinakis sealed the final 25-23 for the home side.
The score remained close also for most of the third set where Estonia had a margin of two after the second technical time-out (17:15). That lead was widened to three points on a terrific block killed by Andres Toobal (22:19); Greece responded to make it 21:22 but an error by the home superstar, Mitar Tzourits, finished the set at 25-23 for Estonia.
The home heroes caught a flying start in the fourth set (10:6) but they made a way too many mistakes, so that Estonia could move to the front at 15:12. Even two time-outs asked by head coach Sotirios Drikos could not get the home side back on track and Estonia celebrated their well-deserved 3:1 victory (25-17) showing excellent tempo all the way through to the end.
“A couple of days ago at the press conference I had said that the teams will approach these matches in a totally different way than they had done last week in Poprad,” Estonia’s head coach Gheorghe Cretu said. “If you lose your focus for only two minutes while playing with Greece, you end up losing the set. However, today my team showed an excellent performance. I do not want to make any predictions on the final day of the tournament. My mind is only on our match with Hungary. They have nothing to lose and we have to win that match.”
“Estonia played really well, with only a very few unforced errors,” said Greece’s head coach Sotirios Drikos. “We played three close sets but some errors down the final stretch had an impact on the result of the first and third ones. There we really helped our opponents with our own mistakes. The worst moment, however, came in the fourth set where we were leading by a good margin but ended up having troubles to organise our offensive game. Estonia today was better than us and the result is fair. Tomorrow the important thing for me is to play with ambition and self-confidence, knowing that we can score a second victory over Slovakia within just one week.”
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