Kocaeli, Turkey, April 5, 2015. Another series of spectacular performances highlighted the second day of the 2015 CEV U19 Volleyball European Championship – Men in Kocaeli with the teams from Poland, Italy and Russia celebrating in the end, while France, Denmark and Serbia had to accept their defeats after some great matches showcasing the terrific skills of Europe's stars in the making.

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Both teams lost their #EurovolleyU19M starting matches on Saturday and were forced to win the second game in Pool I in Kocaeli. Serbia started the first set by troubling the Italians defence very well, however the Italians fought bravely to close the deficit but it wasn't enough to start a comeback. The set ended with an excellent block by Serbian captain David Mehic at 25-18. The Italian side took the advantage at the beginning of the second chapter but Serbia caught up quickly and went ahead halfway through (16-14). Serbia’s Miran Kujundzic scored the most points (7) and had a large share on the next set winner for his team (25-23). 300 spectators enjoyed and cheered on with a high level of thrill during the ending of the set. Italy started an outstanding comeback in an even more exciting third set as both teams raced to win, Italy for another chance to turn the game around and Serbia to finish it. The Azzurrini went ahead with final attempts to tie the match. Helped by David Mehic’s missed attack, Italy won the set at 25-20.

The opening of the fourth set started off with a dominating team from Italy, defending better to overpowering Serbia by being well ahead with a speedy start and not giving up easily. The Italians towards the end of the set displayed excellent spikes and blocks to recover and lead constantly to win with a clear result of 25-14. In the fifth set Italy blazed through with excellent blocks and spikes and looked very eager to win today’s match by leaving a massive gap with their opponents (15-7).

Mario Barbiero, coach of Italy: “It was a difficult match today, Serbia played very well and showed great Volleyball.”

Gianluca Galassi, captain of Italy: “We didn’t show our best in the first and second set. But Serbia played very well and deserved the advantage at this moment. After it we were searching for the right answers and used our chances. I think we are ready for the match coming up tomorrow against Denmark.”

Milan Djuricic, coach of Serbia: “We played really good for the first two sets but in the third set we somehow were afraid of losing.  Italy was really good today and we look forward to the match against France tomorrow.”

Denmark vs. Poland 0:3 (15-25, 20-25, 22-25)

The second match of the second day between Denmark and Poland began with a tie (2-2) but the Polish team would then dominate for the remainder of the match. Good block actions put them 16-12 ahead at the second technical time out. The course of the game did not change while Poland’s Jakub Ziobrowski finished the set on six points contributing to a 25-15 win. Poland went up with a comfortable lead in the second set again (16-7). Denmark followed with excellent blocks and spikes but the Polish block and serves put the rookies under pressure and so the Danes produced a lot of mistakes. Denmark nearly recovered towards the end but it wasn’t enough to save the set (25-20). Denmark quickly reacted on a dominating Poland at the beginning of the third set. Towards the end of the set, Denmark displayed excellent blocks however the set finished with another win for Poland (25-22). Bartosz Kwolek from Poland was the best player of the match since out of 14 attacks he scored 10 points converting 57% of his attempts.

Sebastian Pawlik, coach of Poland: “We played much better today and I’m glad about this victory. Tomorrow it will be a difficult game and we must play our best to win the third match.”

Jakub Kochanowski, captain of Poland: “Tomorrow it is going to be a difficult game against Russia but we are very happy that we have won today.”

Thomas Bertelsen, coach of Denmark: “I’m happy today. We put in the right effort with serving and blocking but we had problems with side out and we are working hard to construct that. Poland is a very good team.”

Oscar Mollgaard, captain of Denmark: “We lost today but although they had a lot of substitutions we responded very well to that. Poland is a very good Volleyball nation and today we showed that Denmark deserves to be here as we have improved.”

Russia vs. France 3:0 (30-28, 25-21, 25-21)

The match started with chanting fans from Russia and France, therefore both teams went out confidently scoring points without leaving a gap. France had an excellent block at 7-6 of the first set to stay right behind Russia. Tensions were high as the scoreboard showed 12-12 with a one point advantage for the Russian team at the second technical time out (16-15). In the end both squads battled to win the first set which ended with a cheering Russian team at 30-28. Russia began more confident in the second set and overpowered France as their opponents made some mistakes. The French weren’t giving up as the set nearly came to the end (23-20), but Russia held on to their lead. Anton Semyshev had a 44% average securing the second set for Russia at 25-21.

Both teams tried to take control at the beginning of the third set, while France crept back by captain Joachin Panou’s spike leading the score 5-7. Although Russia was dominating the third set, the French side looked eager to come back as they trailed by five points (15-20) and performed a comeback which forced Russia to take its second time out at 21-18. The set ended with France’s Toky Rajoharivelo serving into the net. The Russian rising star Anton Semyshev was the best player throughout the whole match with 50% attack.

Mikhail Nikolaev, coach of Russia: “It’s always very difficult to play against France and they are very good at defending as well as receiving and they don’t make a lot of mistakes. Tomorrow we have a strong opponent and we are prepared to compete against them.”

Olivier Audabram, coach of France: “We played not so bad today; we regret the first set as we were close to finishing it. We knew it was a hard game but it wasn’t enough so congratulations to Russia. We must focus on the next match. Serbia is a good team although they lost two games so tomorrow is going to be a hard one.”