11/01/2015 20:42
Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Slovenia all through to second qualification round
2015 FIVB U21 Men Volleyball World Championship - European Qualification
Luxembourg, January 11, 2015. The first round of European qualification for the 2015 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship came to a close on Sunday with Italy, Slovenia, Belgium, France and Germany completing a clean sweep of their matches in Pool A, B, D, E and F respectively to join the winners of Pool C, Austria, and the gold and silver medallists from last year’s U19 European Championship - Russia and Poland - in the second stage of the qualification process scheduled for May 14-17, 2015. Two tournaments with four teams each – the composition of the Pools will be drawn later this week – will be played with the eventual winners getting the right to represent Europe at the Championship scheduled for early September and due to take place in Tijuana and Mexicali, Mexico.
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Pool A in Gentofte (DEN)
Denmark vs. Italy 1:3 (25-23, 15-25, 12-25, 18-25)
The Italian guests showed no mercy for the Danish hosts after a surprising first set victory for Denmark to round off the tournament in Gentofte with a 3:1 victory and make the second stage of the World Championship qualification process. The match started out with both teams fighting hard for each point and the score stood at 8:7 for Italy at the first technical time-out. The gap between the two teams did not change at the second technical break (16:15 for Italy). After that Denmark played some good rallies in defence and blocking and the Italian coach Michele Totire called a time-out while trailing 16:19. Denmark got their first set point at 24:22 by a line shot from Anders Lammert Hartmann. Well helped by the home crowd the Danish team surprisingly took the first set 25-23. From the beginning of the second set the Italians picked up their game and cruised to the first technical time-out with an 8:3 lead. The strong play by Italy continued and the Danish team had problems in finding a way through the Italian blocks. The score at the second technical time-out was 16:5 for Italy and the set finished at 25-15 with an ace from the Italian player Giacomo Raffaelli. In the third set the match continued as it had finished in the second set with a strong playing Italian team and a Danish team having difficulties in scoring. The Italians had an 8:2 lead at the first technical time-out and 16:8 at the second. The rest of the set Italy made no errors and the spirit of the Danish team was hurt (25-12). The Danish team insisted on showing some good Volleyball to their fans and especially their captain Mads Møllgaard started out well in the fourth set. But still the Italian blocking and side-out were on a high level and the score was 8:6 for Italy at the first technical time-out. Making some mistakes the Danes lost momentum and Italy went ahead 16:12; although the Danish team from that point on showed good fighting spirit, it was not enough against a very strong and professional team from Italy and the last set ended at 25-18 for the guests. Best scorer for the Danish team was again team captain Mads Møllgaard with 18 points. For the Italian team Marco Vitelli and Andrea Argenta both piled up 15 points.
The head coach of Denmark Martin Siig Simonsen said: “Italy is the strongest team we ever played and I am very impressed with the high level of their performance. Therefore I am also very proud that in the beginning we were able to put them under pressure by serving good and even could take the first set. From that point we did not serve that well and this is crucial if you want to have any chance against Italy. I am very satisfied with the performance of my libero Jonathan Lier Møller and our captain Mads Møllgaard, who both showed that they can play at an international level. We have learned a lot from these matches and I wish Italy good luck in the next stage of the competition.”
Pool B in Hoce (SLO)
Turkey vs. Slovenia 0:3 (20-25, 17-25, 21-25)
Slovenia’s men confirmed their status as rising power after finishing in fourth place at last year’s U19 European Championship in Brno by making the second stage of qualification for this year’s U21 World Championship after cruising to a straight-set victory over Turkey on Sunday. The hosts started the match with the right pace leading 4:1 and 5:2 before Turkey managed to draw level at 7 all. After the first technical time-out the home team started playing even better, came into the lead at 15:10 and 19:11 and didn’t let their opponents come back into the match. The Slovenian
players were better in all elements and sealed a smooth 25-20 win in the first set. The victory in the first set didn’t make the home heroes slow down. The Slovenians kept dictating the rhythm of the game through the whole second set and the spectators witnessed an excellent performance of their team. Slovenia put a lot of pressure on the Turkish receivers and their attackers killed practically every ball. On the other hand, the Turks served very well, but they made ten direct faults on reception and attack and this way helped their opponents cruise to a comfortable 25-17 set win. In the third set the Turkish players showed even more fighting spirit and their game was much more equal to Slovenia’s, but the home team still came into the lead by two points at the second technical time-out (16:14). After the break the Slovenians were back on track towards their 3-0 win, serving and attacking strong, playing without mistakes and securing the 25-21 that meant also a spot in the second qualification round.
Iztok Ksela, head coach of Slovenia: “We proved once more that we function as a team on and off the court. Our tactics for today’s game were the right choice and even when Turks came back into the game we had the right answer. I can only congratulate my players on their excellent performance tonight.”
Jernej Vrhunc, captain of the Slovenian team: “Everything was perfect for us today. The atmosphere was great and we played really good. The Turks also played well, but we were better in all elements of the game.”
Cansin Ogbai Enaboifo, captain of the Turkish team, said: “We didn’t start the match well and we were immediately lagging behind by a few points. We fought hard and tried to change the course of the game, but failed to do so. Our concentration was not at the level it should be, there was not enough focus, so everything fell apart.”
Pool D in Vilvoorde (BEL)
Slovakia vs. Portugal 2:3 (23-25, 25-11, 25-22, 21-25, 10-15)
Portugal delivered an excellent display of what team work is all about to claim their first victory in the tournament held in Vilvoorde. Still, after losing the first set Slovakia came back strong into the match. They pressured their opponents with their serve and Portugal’s defence line simply collapsed, with this resulting into a terrific 25-11 Slovakia’s way at the end of the second set. Portugal could not stand the pressure also in the third set even though it improved along the way, but still too late to prevent Slovakia from winning that set too (25-22). However, things changed again in the fourth set where Slovakia dissipated their 2:1 lead by making a way too many errors. Portugal used this chance to call for the tie-break and imposed their rule there as well claiming an early lead that they did not relinquish until the end.
Miroslav Palgut, head coach of Slovakia, said: “I am very angry. We started badly in the fourth set and have been chasing Portugal right from the start. My setter did not play the way I wanted him to do. We should never have lost that ominous fourth set.”
Hugo Silva, head coach of Portugal, added: “I am very happy with this victory. We have been growing day by day in this tournament. The first day was bad, whilst the second and today were very good. We played at a high level and won this match as a team. And that is what I am particularly pleased with.”
Ukraine vs. Belgium 0:3 (21-25, 20-25, 22-25)
The young ‘Red Dragons’ of Belgium completed a clean sweep of their matches at Eurovolley Centre in Vilvoorde to make the second and last stage of qualifications with a perfect record of nine points from three games. They finished their job with a 3:0 victory over Ukraine even though they struggled a bit in the early stages of the first set. They made some serving errors but cheered on by their fans they found their way into the game as Ukraine had a difficult time trying to read the game of Belgian setter Sander Depovere. After finishing the second set on a kill block, Belgium had secured the top spot in the group as well as their promotion to the second qualification round coming up in May. Ukraine fought back from 17:24 to 22:24 in the third set but substitute opposite Maarten Van Dyck sealed the final 3:0 with a terrific spike down the line.
Belgium’s head coach Joel Banks commented: “I’m over the moon with this victory. It's a perfect result. We have shown that when we need to stand up and show our best Volleyball, we deliver. In this tournament we played with a mix of nice Volleyball at a high level and worker’s Volleyball, so to speak. Every match was a mix of both. I’m happy, proud of my team and players, especially since we could achieve this result with a limited preparation.”
Pool E in Nyiregyhaza (HUN)
Latvia vs. Greece 1:3 (23-25, 19-25, 25-22, 15-25)
These teams did not stand any more a chance to make the second qualification stage of the World Championship but still they wanted to finish their campaign on a high note. It turned out to be an exciting match. They both started quite nervous at serving but killed some great attacks and blocks at the same time. The first set was very close with Greece having the upper hand in the end. The Greek guys then imposed their rule in the second and won it easy. Things changed completely in the third set where Latvia served and spiked strong whilst Greece made a lot of mistakes. In set 4 Greece came back strong and played their best leading by as many as seven points at the second technical time-out. Greece did not look back anymore and finished the match in four sets for their first victory in Nyiregyhaza.
Jurijs Deveikuss, Latvia’s head coach, said: “We had ups and downs like being on a rollercoaster. I want to thank the organisers of this tournament: everything was good here; only the results were not that good for us.”
Latvia’s setter Raimonds Linins added: “We played bad this weekend, we went up and own all the time. We just couldn’t fix our reception and perform well in attack.”
Aristeidis Aggelopoulos, Greece’s head coach: “We are happy with the organisation of this tournament. As for the results, there are two reasons why we did not get the ticket to the next round. There was some bad refereeing in our first match against France, and then we got nervous. But this is sport and we have to keep on going. Today we had a good match and I am very happy with the result. We have now to set out new goals.”
France vs. Hungary 3:0 (25-16, 28-26, 25-18)
Though they fought hard to delight their home fans, hosts Hungary could not stop the run of last year’s European bronze medallist France who won their third match in a row to progress to the second and final round of the World Championship qualification. France started out strong and soon Hungary’s head coach György Demeter had to stop the game. The hosts had many problems in defence and lacked also quality in blocking, something that France exploited mercilessly. The impressive performance of the young Bleus ‘killed’ Hungary (25-16). The second set was more balanced with Hungary improving their game and France making more mistakes. Halfway through Hungary went to the front powered by their star player Krisztian Padar. However, Stephen Boyer shook Hungary’s defence line with his serve and propelled the final 28-26 and 2:0 lead for France. Hungary was able to keep France’s pace only at the beginning of the third set and at the second technical time-out was already lagging behind by six points. Hungary made a lot of mistakes at blocking and could not find an answer to France’s fast game.
Jocelyn Trillon, France’s head coach, said: “It was a very good match. My team was more concentrated as they acknowledged the value of our opponents. They respected the game plan we had worked on. I have to congratulate Hungary because it was a tough match.”
Luka Basic, France’s team captain: “I am very happy, it was a good game, but have to praise also the hosts because they were a tough opponent for us tonight.”
György Demeter, Hungary’s coach, commented: “Congratulations to France, they deserved this victory. Our aggressive serving did not work with them and Krisztian Padar was our only weapon in this match. We showed too much respect for our opponent.”
Pool F in Zwolle (NED)
Bulgaria vs. Croatia 3:0 (25-19, 25-21, 26-24)
The Bulgarian U21 men’s national team ended the qualification tournament in Zwolle with a clear 3-0 victory over Croatia. The team of head coach Atanas Petrov controlled the match in the first two sets. Bulgaria played very concentrated and their defence was great. The setters Pavel Ivanov and Vladimir Stankov, who got both the chance to join the actions, distributed their set-ups good to all their attackers. In the third set Croatia was almost equal to Bulgaria, but despite that fact the Bulgarians managed to win the match without losing a set.
“I’m happy with the result and the fact that we played very concentrated,” said Bulgarian coach Atanas Petrov after the match. “This weekend we could see the future of the national teams from Bulgaria, Croatia, the Netherlands and Germany.”
“If we don’t play at our top level we are not able to beat a strong team like Bulgaria,” said the head coach of Croatia, Goran Zec. “It’s very hard to qualify for the World Championship, especially in a strong pool like ours. But we fought hard for it, no team beat us easily.”
The Netherlands vs. Germany 1:3 (19-25, 25-27, 25-23, 17-25)
The U21 men’s national team of Germany proceeds to the second round of the European qualification to the 2015 edition of this age group’s World Championship. The team of head coach Johan Verstappen claimed also their last first round match in Zwolle against the Netherlands by 3:1. In the crowded Landstede Sportcentrum the Dutch hosts and the Germans treated the audience with an exciting last match where especially the second and third sets were thrilling. The Dutch missed out on two set points in the second set but got back in the game by winning set three. In the fourth set the talented German team made the decisive break maintaining their perfect record and finishing the tournament with nine points in three matches.
“I have to commend my team for showing this level of play for three days in a row,” said Germany’s head coach Johan Verstappen. “I think we were the best team of this tournament. Now we have the challenging task of winning another qualification tournament to reach the World Championship.”
“I think my team played a good tournament overall,” said Dutch mentor, 1996 Olympic champion Ron Zwerver. “Today we played a good match, despite the fact that we missed some chances in the second set. But Germany is the rightful winner of this tournament.”
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