15/05/2015 21:47
‘Fall of Gods’ continues with European champions Serbia losing to underdogs France at home World Champs qualifier
2015 FIVB U20 Women Volleyball World Championship - European Qualification
Ruma, Serbia, May 15, 2015. On Friday afternoon Turkey opened the second-round qualification tournament for this year’s FIVB Volleyball Women’s U20 World Championship with a 3:1 victory (25-18, 23-25, 25-19, 25-12) victory over the Czech Republic. However, the real sensation followed later in the evening once underdogs France upset hosts Serbia – the reigning U19 European champions – by cruising to a hard-fought, yet well-deserved tie-break win (25-17, 23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 15-8). As they were missing their superstar Tijana Boskovic, the home heroines had to cope with a similar destiny as men’s U20 European champions Russia who earlier on Friday had suffered a straight-set loss to Slovenia in Nova Gorica.
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Czech Republic vs. Turkey 1:3 (18-25, 25-23, 19-25, 12-25)
On Friday afternoon Turkey claimed the opening match of the tournament by cruising to a 3:1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-19, 25-12) victory over the Czech Republic in front of 80 spectators.
Turkey took an early 4:0 lead in the first set, but the Czech girls immediately recovered and tied the score at 7:7. At the second technical time-out, however, Turkey led comfortably by 16:10. After the break, the Czechs narrowed the gap to 18:16, but the Turkish side did not leave room for any more surprises. They scored a couple of important rallies to widen their lead to five points at 22:17 before they easily wrapped the set up at 25-18.
In the second set, the Czech Republic had two-three points in hand and they successfully maintained that small cushion until the finishing stage, when Turkey managed to equalise at 17:17 and then turn the score around in their favour at 19:18. Nevertheless, the Czechs did not surrender, and after a hard fought battle they managed to tie the score in sets 1:1 (25-23). In the third set, Turkey fully assumed the role of favourites, and easily cruised to the final 25-19. In the fourth, Turkey was even more convincing wrapping it up at 25-12 for their 3:1 overall victory.
Michaela Mlejnkova of the Czech Republic topped the scorers' chart in this match with 21 points, while Hande Baladin recorded 19 for the winners.
Arelya Karasoy, team captain of Turkey, said: “This was our first match with the Czech Republic. We didn’t know much about them and we didn’t see their matches from the previous round. It is tough to play when you don’t know your rival. So we couldn’t play our best game and we had to make a lot of adjustments. Luckily for us, it turned out fine in the end.”
Marie Kurkova, team captain of the Czech Republic, commented: “We made a lot of mistakes in the first set. The second one we won because we managed to reduce the number of errors we made. However, we couldn’t keep our focus, and we started to make mistakes once again in the third and the fourth sets. That’s the main reason for our loss.”
Serbia vs. France 2:3 (17-25, 25-23, 25-21, 19-25, 8-15)
In the other match scheduled for Friday, France edged Serbia 3:2 (25-17, 23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 15-8) in front of 300 spectators. Héléna Cazaute of France topped the scorers’ chart with 24 points, while Sara Lozo recoded 17 for the hosts in their losing effort.
The French girls started the match better with an early 5:2 lead. Serbia reduced the gap at 7:6, but the guests once again pushed hard and went up 11:7. In this moment Serbia’s coach Marijana Boricic had to ask for a time-out. After the break, Serbia narrowed the gap to just one point at 12:11, but the French side went to the second technical time-out leading by 16:12. Serbia tried to recover, but the French girls were very convincing and wrapped the first set up easily at 25-17.
At the beginning of the second set Serbia went up 5:2 and successfully maintained the gap thru the second technical time-out (16:12 to the home side). The French girls, however, managed to reduce their deficit to just one point at 22:21. After Serbia’s time-out, the home favourites augmented the lead with Sara Lozo’s powerful spike. Serbia snatched the second set by the narrowest of margins at 25-23.
Serbia started better the third set, but France turned the score around and went up 7:6. The game was pretty tied thru the second technical time-out (16:15 to Serbia). After the break, the match continued in the same way. However, Serbia slightly went ahead after 17:17 with three consecutive points (20:17). It was enough for the home side to take a 2:1 lead in sets (25-21).
France started the fourth set with an 8:0 run, which proved to be enough to force the decisive tie-break. Once again, France did well at the start of the fifth set and went up 5:1. As the teams changed sides of the court, the score stood at 8:4 for the visiting side. Serbia tried everything but could not avoid the loss. The French girls deservedly went on to win the fifth set 15-8.
Gael Le Draoulec, coach of France, said: “The level of both teams was very similar, but this time we made fewer mistakes. Serbia, of course, is not so strong without Tijana Boskovic, but still we are very happy with this victory. It means a lot to us.”
Marijana Boricic, the mentor of the home team, commented: “We were not even close to our regular game. We mixed up the line-up, and we tried everything with the girls we have here, but it was not enough. This is our limit right now. We will see how we choose to play tomorrow. We will have to be smart.”
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