31/05/2014 20:00
Slovakia through to Final Round, Estonia moves on to third stage of qualification
2015 CEV Volleyball European Championship - Men
Rentis, Greece, May 31, 2014. Slovakia routed Greece in straight sets (25-22, 25-21, 25-23) on Saturday night at Melina Merkouri in Rentis to finish the second-round qualifier – Pool C atop the charts with 15 points and claim a spot in the Final Round of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European Championship – Men that will be co-hosted next year by Bulgaria and Italy. After edging past Hungary by 3:1 (27-29, 25-17, 25-19, 25-16) and following Greece’s straight defeat to Slovakia, Estonia claimed second place in the Pool with 12 points and will have one extra chance to make the Finals of the European Championship via the third and last stage of the qualification process scheduled for May next year.
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Hungary vs. Estonia 1:3 (29-27, 17-25, 19-25, 16-25)
Estonia did what they had to in their match with Hungary cashing another three points to remain in contention for second place in the Pool.
However, their task was not that easy since Hungary started out very strong in the opening set and got three set balls at 24:21. Martti Juhkami responded with excellent serving for Estonia to make it 24 all and even though the guys from the Baltic country had three chances to pocket the first set, they could not capitalize on them and it was Krisztian Padar who sealed the final 29-27 for the underdogs from Hungary.
After that, the course of the match changed completely. Estonia’s strong serving destroyed Hungary’s reception, with the men mentored by Gheorghe Cretu recording 10 aces in the three sets that followed. They were helped by their solid block – they registered 10 in the end as well – on their way to a well-deserved 3:1 victory.
“At the beginning there was a lot of pressure on our team and even though there is no doubt about our quality, we needed to prove that we are the better team on the court and this we eventually did from the second set onwards,” Cretu said. “We still have to grow as a team and I am particularly happy because we have added to the group a lot of young players and they have helped us claim this result. However, I am a little upset because we will not participate in the European League and for us it would have been the right opportunity to continue with our development.”
“We started very well and won a tough first set but after that Estonia served really well, while we had difficulties with our side-out,” commented Hungary’s head coach György Demeter. “I have to congratulate our opponents on their victory. We did the best we could do at the moment as we have a lot of injured players.”
Slovakia vs. Greece 3:0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-23)
Slovakia routed Greece in straight sets on the last competition day at Melina Merkouri in Rentis and with this result pocketed a ticket to the Final Round of the European Championship. Greece, on the other hand, settles for third place and ends here its European journey.
The home heroes needed a 3:0 victory to top the charts of Pool C or a 3:1 to make it at least to the third and last stage of qualifications, but Slovakia and Estonia eventually claimed first and second place in the Pool.
Slovakia took command of the operations already in the first set (8:7, 15:12) and even though the home side closed the gap by the second technical time-out, after that it could not keep the pace of their opponents who finished the set at 25-22 with an ace by Emanuel Kohut.
By winning this set Slovakia had already secured their participation in the Final Round of the European Championship. However, they kept on pushing and set the pace of the game also in the second set (8:6, 16:11), and once they sealed the final 25-21 the Estonian delegation could also start their celebrations on the stands for Greece was no longer in the position of posing a threat to their second place in the standing of the Pool.
Though their European campaign was virtually over, Greece tried to please the home fans in the third set moving the score up to 10:7; an excellent serving turn by Matej Patak helped Slovakia come back strong and level the score at 12 all, before an ace by Simon Krajcovic made it 17:14 for the guests. The hosts made their last attempt for a comeback with their youngster Georgios Tzioumakas and got back the lead at 22:20 before Lubos Kostolani hit another two aces for Slovakia to finish it off in straight sets (25-23).
“Before the start of the match I talked to my players and said: we lost 0:3 at home last week and this time I want to win here with the same score,” said Slovakia’s head coach Flavio Gulinelli. “We are not going to be happy with just one set, I want a victory! I am really happy with the way we performed tonight. It wasn’t a great match as both teams were feeling a lot of pressure and this was evident especially in the first set. I knew that one or two points would make the difference and determine the final fate of the set. Our side-out worked really well and we are lucky to have such an excellent setter like Michal Masny. Right now he is one of the best in the world in his role. After the first set Greece was just down. My first thought today goes to our opponent because I felt the same way last week when we lost in three sets in Poprad. So I perfectly understand them but this is sport. Today we wanted to win even though we needed just one set and for me this is our best way to show how much we respect our opponents.”
“It was a make-or-break situation and this is especially difficult and demanding for a young team such as ours,” said Greece’s mentor Sotirios Drikos. “I think the crucial point was some serving errors we made. We tried to exploit this fundamental but without much success; I believe that the result is absolutely fair and the victory of the Slovakian team well-deserved.”
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