Sakarya, Turkey, April 5, 2015. The second day of action at the 2015 CEV U19 Volleyball European Championship – Men in Sakarya provided something more to celebrate for the home heroes of Turkey and the young players of the Czech Republic who got their second straight win whilst the German team notched their first victory in the tournament by seeing off Bulgaria in three sets.
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Germany vs. Bulgaria 3:0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-17)
Bulgaria set the pace right from the beginning of the match and led by 8-5 at the the first technical time out. Maximilian Auste (11 points) and Plamen Shekerdzhiev (7 points) were the main actors and got the most balls in the beginner. However Germany offered big problems in the reception which brought them into a five point deficit (6-11). It was Corbin Balster who gave the signal for a comeback which took them in the position to turn the score around at 16-15. A thrilling final phase was decided by a fended set ball on the German side and a flying Maximilian Auste who ended with an extraordinary attack quote of 77% to finalize the first set at 26-24. It looked like an easy job for Bulgaria after the start of the second set again. Their block action let them run away to 8-3 by the first technical time out. But like in the first chapter Maximilian Auste troubled the opponents’ defence, finally a huge German block levelled the game at 12-12. Bulgaria wasn’t in the psychological condition to recover from this nearest backstroke and lost the second set 22-25.
It seemed that the Balkan team had lost their confidence and spirit in the third set. The German Team, on the other hand, started focused as the first ball was served in the third chapter and seized the leadership step by step from 8-6 to 16-11 and finished with a block by their 211cm tall middle blocker Tobias Krick (25-17). Best player of the game was Maximilian Auste who continued his great performance from the first set and scored 21 points in the end, followed by middle blocker Tobias Krick who made 13 points (6 blocks).
Matus Kalny, coach of Germany: “We showed a lot of passion today. Our spirit to win this game was on a very high level against a strong opponent from Bulgaria. My players fought for every ball and increased their performance from set to set. We knew about our strength, also after the defeat from yesterday. I’m happy with the result but we have to continue the same way the next days.”
Stefan Thiel, captain of Germany: “Actually the start wasn’t the way we planned and of course I thought about the game yesterday. It started the same way but I’m glad that we had the right answer during the first and second set today. We will try everything to win the game against Spain tomorrow.”
Dragan Ivanov, coach of Bulgaria: “The lead that we had early in the first and second set calmed down our players, so we made some mistakes. We could not close the sets under the pressure and lost logically. We had our chances. No we must win all three remaining games in the group and find the right conclusions from today’s loss to be better tomorrow.”
Radoslav Parapunov, captain of Bulgaria: “When we were leading in the game, we could not play well with easy balls. That is why we lost today. This made the difference.”
Romania vs. Turkey 1:3 (25-27, 17-25, 25-18, 21-25)
Turkey started the game really well and after 2-2, the home heroes scored a 6-1 run to reach the first technical time out leading 8-3. Opposite Adis Lagumdzija was the man that Turkey could count on in the middle of the set, as they took a six-point advantage at the second technical timeout (16-10). Once the game resumed, Romania took the initiative with captain Robert Aciobanitei and made it 22-22. In the end the Romanian team could not use two set points and Turkey won the set 27-25. Lagumdzija scored 8 points for Turkey in the first set.
The second set started point by point between both teams and it was Turkey who took the lead 8-7 at the first technical time out. This time Abdullah Çam chiefly contributed to the performance of the host team as they made it 16-12 at the second technical time out. Romania could not stay competitive at the end of the set and Turkey won it by 25-17. The two teams changed their roles in the third set where Romania reached the first technical time out leading by 8-4. Aciobanitei was effective on the net both in offence and defence to extend the gap. After the second technical time out which Romania called by the score of 16-9, the visitors scored three points in a row to make it 19-9. The rest of the set did not come in handy for Turkey and Romania won it by 25-18.
Despite Romania’s 8-4 lead at the first technical time out, Turkey succeeded to make it 12-9 with a 5-1 run. The Turkish blocks stopped the Romanian spikers on the net and the lead grew up to 16-12 at the second technical time out. The home heroes did not let Romania force a tie break and won the set 25-21. Romania’s captain Aciobanitei was the best scorer of the game with 27 points whilst Adis Lagumdzija recorded 19 points for Turkey.
Salih Erdoğan Tavacı, coach of Turkey: “After two sets we crashed in the third. But my players made a comeback in the fourth set. They all played great. After two sets, they thought the game was over. When they realised it was not, they started to play their real game. I always told them you cannot gain a victory this way. And I wanted from them a birthday present and they gave me that. So I want to thank all of them. We will do our best against the Czech Republic tomorrow.”
Muzaffer Yönet, captain of Turkey: “We started the game really well like yesterday. Our team was great. But after the second set we pulled the plug and stopped playing. We managed to recover. The last set was a real combat. I want to congratulate my teammates. We wanted the victory so much and we won. We are very happy.”
Razvan Parpala, coach of Romania: “I think we played a good game, but Turkey played even better. It is not easy to win against the hosts. My players made a good job and we will continue to fight for a win here.”
Robert Adrian Aciobanitei, captain of Romania: “We fought hard but it was not enough to win this game. Turkey has a very strong team and made the better decisions in the key situations when the score was close, especially in the first two sets. Tomorrow is a new day and we will try to achieve our first victory.”
Czech Republic vs. Spain 3:0 (25-16, 25-11, 25-19)
Czech Republic and Spain, two of the teams that started with outstanding performances and deserved victories on the first day of the #EurovolleyU19M, faced each other in the last match of the second day in Sakarya. Both teams started out on an equal level and showed their motivation to gain another win (12-12). In the middle of the set the Czech Republic went up by five points (18-13) and scared the opponent's attacker with some great block actions. It would be the ruling move in this set as Spain could not close the deficit and lost the set in a clear way 16-25. Things became even worse when the Czech Republic edged their opponents in the second chapter. A series of strong serves on the Czech side and a horrible performance in attack by Spain (25%) converted it into an easy job for Kristian Cervinka and his teammates, who ended it with a 14-point advantage (25-11). The fans in Sakarya saw a third set which reminded of the beginning of this match. The squads acted at the same level and showed some good rallies and fast attacks (16-16). But again a well-working Czech block-defence system made the difference and decided it at 25-19.
Jiri Zach, coach of the Czech Republic: “My players played a very good game. We are in good conditions and made nearly no mistakes but we did not expect a game like this. Spain is stronger than they have shown today. Now we are focused on the next games to extend our leadership in this group.”
Kristian Cervinka, captain of the Czech Republic: “It was not so easy like the score may suggest but we were focused all the time. It is our goal to win the group and two victories in two games are a good basis to convert this.”
Benjamin Vicedo, coach of Spain: “That was a good match for the Czech team. They played very good. They forced our reception to make mistakes. It is so difficult to play against Czech Republic’s high block. This is anyway a European Championship and not an easy tournament. We have to forget this game. We cannot be thinking about this match for too long.”
Sergi Rene Giralt, captain of Spain: “The Czech Republic played better than us. Their spikes and digs were better during the whole match. And their blocks were effective. It is hard to play against an opponent like this. Tomorrow we want to play better than we did today.”