Rotterdam, Netherlands, September 27, 2015. The defending champions of Russia presented another demonstration of power in the second day of competition at the 2015 CEV DELA Volleyball European Championship - Women in Rotterdam. The Russian team is taking Pool C by storm and continued its commanding journey in the tournament with its second three-setter victory, this time over their neighbours from Belarus (25-18, 25-16, 25-21). The venue of Rotterdam lived a rollercoaster of a match in the second clash of the day, as Croatia booked their first victory in a tie-breaker triumph over Bulgaria 3:2 (25-23, 22-25, 14-25, 25-22, 15-13). 

Russia vs Belarus 3:0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-21)

On the second competition day in Rotterdam Russia overpowered Belarus in three sets, thus confirming their candidacy to rule Pool C. The defending champions of Russia took an early lead with the powerful well-placed spikes by Tatiana Kosheleva (8:6). The Russians fulfilled their role as favourites from the very beginning of the game and widened the gap (16:10) at the second technical time-out. The players of Belarus could not prevent Russia from taking the first set (25-18).

At the start of the second period, Belarus fought their way back into the game and took a 5:2 advantage. Russia stayed focussed and a hard smash by Nataliia Obmochaeva tied the score (5:5). Petr Khilko’s players did their best but could not find a way to stop the aggressive Russian performance (16:10). The Russian side kept in control and a powerful spike by Tatiana Kosheleva ended the second period 25-16. 

In the third set, the team directed by Yuriy Marichev showed their power with efficiency in attack and the contribution by the forceful duo formed by Nataliia Obmochaeva and Tatiana Kosheleva as main arguments (8:4). However, Belarus never gave up and tied the score at 10:10. Belarus took the lead in the middle of the set (15:17), but Russia continued scoring the important points (19:17) and never looked back until the final 25-21.



“We won 3-0 but I think we can always do better; even if we play very good we still can improve. For tomorrow we have to decide our tactics. Depending on the result of the match between Croatia and Bulgaria we will decide if we use our reserve players or play with new combinations,” commented the coach of Russia Yuriy Marichev.

“We tried to do our best, but the level of Russia is higher than ours. Tomorrow’s match against Bulgaria is very important for us,” stated the coach of Belarus Petr Khilko.

“It’s too bad that we lost, but we played against the defending European champion. We did our very best but it was not enough,” added the captain of Belarus Aksana Kavalchuk. 

Bulgaria vs Croatia 2:3 (23-25, 25-22, 25-14, 22-25, 13-15)

Croatia booked their first win at the 2015 EuroVolley by defeating Bulgaria 3:2 (25-23, 22-25, 14-25, 25-22, 15-13) in the second match of the day in Rotterdam. It was an important victory for the Bulgarian team in order to qualify for the next stages of the competition. 

It was Croatia who grabbed an early lead (5:3) in the opening set. The team directed by Angelo Vercesi showed a powerful display as captain Maja Poljak scored the 8:4 that sent the teams to their first official break. The teams leveled the score over and over again till the end of this exciting set. Croatia eventually managed to end the set in their favour 25-23.

In the second period the game stayed close till Croatia created a two-point advantage (14:12). Bulgaria kept calm and tied the score at 15:15, and then extended its lead to three points (21:18), thus following a winning path so to take advantage of a net serve by Croatia in order to put an end to the second period.

On to set three, both teams kept the game close, and even a small advantage for Bulgaria (11:9) was reduced by the Croatian ladies (12:12). In the middle of the set the team directed by head coach Dragan Nesic went up again and dominated the period from that moment on, eventually closing the set 25-14.

Croatia kept their focus in the fourth period, and despite Bulgarian attempts, they managed to book a set win (25-22) that extended the match to the tie-break.  

In the deciding fifth set Croatia jumped out for a 3:1 lead and widened the gap to 12:9. Bulgaria fought hard and tied the score at 12:12 but a great block by Croatian players Mira Topic and Maja Poljak ended the set 15:13 and sealed their 3:2 win.



“This match was hard for both teams. We made mistakes in important parts of the game. Tomorrow we have to take our chance against Belarus,” commented the coach of Bulgaria Dragan Nesic. 

“I’m very happy that we won. We played completely different than yesterday and today we showed our team spirit,” stated the coach of Croatia Angelo Vercesi. 

“It is great that we won this match against Bulgaria. We really played as a team this time,” added Croatian captain Maja Poljak.