Sakarya, Turkey, April 6, 2015. The hosts from Turkey and Germany lead the way in Pool II of the 2015 CEV U19 Volleyball European Championship – Men in Sakarya after completion of three rounds. The home heroes of Turkey have a perfect record of three wins in as many matches to top the charts of the group followed by Germany and the Czech Republic. On Monday Turkey routed the Czech Republic in three sets, whilst Germany needed four to edge past Spain. Bulgaria opened the programme of the day cruising to their first victory in the competition with a 3:1 final score in the match up with their neighbours from Romania. 

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The first set started at a fast pace with the score remaining tight (4-4), Romania took the leadership at the first technical time out (8-6) due to Bulgarian faults in attack and some good block actions on their side. They had no problem to handle the Bulgarian attackers (44%) and went up to 15-10. Like in the third set against Germany the day before, Bulgaria failed to catch the missing points and lost the opening set at 20-25. Romania’s captain Robert Adrian Aciobanitei finished the set by tricking his opponent’s defense with a nice lob. In the second set the spectators saw nearly the same beginning like in the first chapter, with balanced scores until Bulgaria stabilised their attack and defense too. So they gained the leadership for the first time and reached the first technical time out with a one-point advantage (8-7). It became a close fight until Romania missed their attacks and got problems in reception, Bulgaria’s outside attacker Stefan Ivanov widened the lead with a nice attack from behind the line to 18-14. The Romanian team lost balance completely and had to accept their defeat in the second set (20-25).
Again Romania started with some misunderstandings in the third and found no answer to stop the Bulgarian attackers who extended the lead to 7-4. Especially the Bulgarian block defence system became better and better in the course of time, Romania’s top scorer Robert Adrian Aciobanitei and Rares Ionut Balean always had to pass a two or three men block and were troubled with their opponents serves before. So Bulgaria increased their lead to 23-17, finally Plamen Shekerdzhiev made the last point at 25-18 and brought his team in the position to decide the game. The game continued this way also in the following set, where Bulgaria even started to dominate Romania and closed the match with a massive margin of 11 points. An ace from Radoslav Parapunov cared for the first victory of the guys from the Balkan peninsula at #EurovolleyU19M (25-14). Best player of the game was Stefan Ivanov with 24 points, followed by his teammate Radoslav Parapunov (20 points). 

Dragan Ivanov, coach of Bulgaria: “We had a nervous start and needed a little bit of time to fit in in the game. After the first set we found our game and deserved the win. We have to analyse the first three games to prepare for the teams we will meet after our free day tomorrow. Of course we want to go through this round and have to win the last two matches.”

Radoslav Parapunov, captain of Bulgaria: “We played not so good in the first set, it was like the previous two matches. But in the following sets we started to believe in our strength and played with heart. We must convert the victory into more confidence and want to win the next games too.”

Razvan Parpala, coach of Romania: “I have nothing to say. We lose 3-1 again for the third time. We are playing good but sometimes we are having problems and we are going down. We lose very fast points. Tomorrow we will think about the next two games.”

George Gavriz, libero of Romania: “I am very disappointed with three losses. We are not a very experienced team. We tried to win but we could not. I hope we will win our last two games”

Turkey vs. Czech Republic 3:0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-23)

In the second match of the day in Pool II, Turkey faced the still unbeaten team of Czech Republic. The hosts started out in a great way dominating their opponents and leading by 6 points at the first technical time out (8-2). But the Czech Republic answered very well and fought themselves bravely back into the game to tie it at 12-12. The spectators tried to push their teams and were rewarded with long rallies between two strong sides as the score moved first to 15-15 and then onto to 22-22. However, the Turkish team took the lead again and wrapped up the first set with three points in a row, finishing it off with a block from Adis Lagumdzija. The reception of the home heroes made the difference with 53%, against a gruesome quote standing at only 28% for their Czech opponents.
The second set started nearly exactly the same way. Strong Turkish serves offered the Czechs problems in the reception, additionally setter Kristian Cervinka was not able to set his wing spikers in the right position (0:4). But like in the first set the Czech team improved the quality of their game and levelled it at 8-8. Curiously the second set took the same way like the one before. Both teams couldn’t get a safe lead till the score reached 22-22. It was the time the Turkish team kept control and made three consecutive points. A fault in attack on the Czech side closed the set at 25-22.
Turkey went one point ahead at 8-7 in the third set but it was still a close game with the better end on the host’s side. In the end the Turkish players were more focused in the last rallies and deserved the 25-23 win. Donovan Dzavoronok was the top scorer of the game with 18 points for the Czech Republic. Abdullah Cam scored 17 points and was the best player for the winning team.

Salih Erdoğan Tavacı, coach of Turkey: “I want to congratulate my team. They did everything that we talked about before the game. We played good when we were leading and we did not give up when the Czech Republic was leading. We managed to stop their offensive power. Now we have 8 points. We have Spain and Germany to play after the day off. We want to reach the semis.”

Muzaffer Yönet, captain of Turkey: “In the first two days we started very well into the games but we stopped after two sets. Today we did not let this happen. I think we played great as a team. It was an important game for us. We want to win the last two games in our pool and qualify to the semis as the pool leader.”

Jiri Zach, coach of Czech Republic: “We made a lot of individual mistakes today and played not good enough. It was our goal to win against Turkey. I am disappointed that we didn’t play like a team but this is the spirit you need when you want to win against a strong Turkish opponent. At the moment I don’t know why my players had so many problems to enter the game in the first and second set.”

Kristian Cervinka, captain of Czech Republic: “It was a bad game in all aspects. We made so many mistakes and had problems in every part today. But we have still the chance to reach the semis. It’s not over yet.”

Spain vs. Germany 1:3 (19-25, 17-25, 25-21, 19-25)

The game started well balanced and Spain led 8-7 at the first technical time out. After the game resumed, Jordi Ramon Ferragut’s serves were effective for Spain to make it 11-7 but at that point Germany took the initiative and made a 6-0 run to lead 13-11. After losing control over the game, Spain could not make a comeback. Germany extended its lead point by point till the end and won the set 25-19. Four different players scored three points for the German team in the first set. Right from the beginning of the second set Germany set the pace and gained a six-point advantage at 8-2, while Spain presented themselves not in the mode to close this gap. The German team ended it easily at 25-16 and extended their lead to 2:0 after two sets.
The spectators watched a comeback from Spain in the third chapter. Germany made too many mistakes to end it in straight sets, so Spain took on the advantage and won the third set 25-21. But the German team fought back in the fourth and wrapped the result to 8-4 at the first technical time out. In the end Spain wasn’t capable of being an equal rival for its opponents and lost the fourth set 19-25. On the other hand, the Germans celebrated their second consecutive victory at the #EurovolleyU19M. Again Maximilian Auste was the most prolific player for Germany with 18 points on his account.

Matus Kalny, coach of Germany: “We were well prepared and fought at our best. But we saw that you cannot remit your performance just for one set at the European Championship. I am proud that my team continued to work hard after they lost the third set. It was important for our confidence. We will have hard games on the last two match days but of course we are willing to reach the semis here.”

Stefan Thiel, captain of Germany: “It wasn’t a good victory but in the end we took three points. I think we acted too nervous after the deficit in the third set. Now we are looking forward to the next games.”

Benjamin Vicedo, coach of Spain: “We had big problems in the first two sets with our reception. We changed our rotation and played much better in the third set. We were very close to Germany in the first set but after the second technical timeout we lost five points in a row. This killed us. We must relax and think about the last two games. In this tournament nobody gives you anything. You have to earn it for yourself. We have to win all remaining matches to reach the best possible result in the pool.”

Sergi Rene Giralt, captain of Spain: “We played very bad in the first two sets. We fought back in the third set and changed the game. Germany’s serves were effective and put us in a difficult position to attack. Our reception was bad during the whole game. We can only work and work.”  

Click here for further information on Final Round of the 2015 CEV U19 Volleyball European Championship – Men.