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Belgium vs Germany 0:3 (22-25, 11-25, 21-25)   

Germany beat Belgium in three sets in an outstanding affirmation of flawless offensive skills. The German side crossed out the the Belgian wishes of victory by stating a sensational efficiency in attack that paved the way to their triumph in straight sets.   

Since both squads were aware of the relevance of the match in order to reach their respective goals, the two teams presented a high level of performance in the first set. Germany used Christian Fromm’s attacks and Belgium entrusted their success to Jolan Cox’s powerful spikes, thus producing a constant tie in the scoreboard. Only Germany’s ample offensive resources allowed Vital Heynen’s men to take a late lead in the period so to win the set 25-22.

This partial defeat affected Belgium and the players directed by Kris Tanghe were unable to follow their rivals’ preeminence over the court, thus granting Germany a clear lead in the second set. As differences grew over the course of the period, the German side just had to maintain its impressive pace to convincingly take a decisive step towards the victory with a spike by Falko Steinke (11-25).

Belgium tried to regain their place in the game, and used Jolan Cox’s spikes as main argument to try to stand up against Germany’s compelling display. However, as the third set progressed, Germany’s clockwork exhibition undermined the Belgian intentions. Vital Heynen’s men completed their sensational offensive performance by sealing the set and the match with an attack by Björn Höhne (25-21).



”I am happy that we won 3:0 and that we finish first in our pool. The team is in good shape and we wish to continue this way in the tournament. The plan is to win the all matches, so it does not matter who will play against in the quarterfinal,” says Germany’s setter Jan Zimmermann.

“I think that in the first set we were competing quite well with Germany. Both teams did many mistakes with their serve, so we were capable of fighting and we lost it by two bad defences from our team. In the second set, we couldn’t score anymore; they were playing very good in serve and they did not allow us to score. In the third set, we had more energy, but again, we have to accept that Germany was too strong for us today. We tried at some moments but at the end, it is a very logical 3:0 for them,” said the coach of Belgium Kris Tanghe.

Bulgaria vs Slovakia 3:0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-19)

With a 3-0 or 3-1 win, Slovakia could advance in Pool B overtaking Bulgaria and thereby avoid facing the undefeated winners of Pool A, Poland. But Bulgaria was too big a mouthful and shut down Slovakia in straight sets.

Bulgaria has been able to keep a high service pressure on their opponents in this tournament. Both Nikolay Nikolov and Valentin Bratoev have made seven aces, the same as Slovakia’s Tomas Krisko. More to the story is that Bratoev has made 21 service errors. The service did the outcome in the first set today. Nikolay Nikolov aced two of his first three serves, and Slovakian Head Coach Miroslav Palgut called his first timeout already at 4-1. The entire Bulgarian team kept sending rockets from the backline, 5 aces in the first set, putting Slovakia under a constant pressure and won the set 25-14.

Bulgaria’s libero Martin Bozhilov has been a solid receiver this far in the tournament with no less than 59 excellent receptions out of 89 attempts. The 27 year old kept vacuuming the floor of Slovakian attacks giving his teammates the chance to build up their attacks and a lead for the team 16-13 at the second technical timeout and cruising to the set win 25-17.

Bulgaria’s doyen, 32 year old Todor Aleksiev, radiated his experience on the court. He kept calm no matter what and his ease rubbed on of the rest of the Bulgarian team. Aleksiev even had surplus to have a look at himself on the big screen in Crystal Hall after he had tried to save a ball sliding into the cardboard panels surrounding the court. The ease and faith in own skills made Bulgaria turn over the set at 17-16 winning it 25-19.

Both Bulgaria and Slovakia are through to the quarterfinals that start on Wednesday, June 22. 



“I am happy that we won very quickly today that was our main goal, so we could get as much rest as possible before the quarterfinal. It was very easy today and I think I will go to the gym for a little workout. I do not care who we are playning in the quarterfinal. You have to beat the best to win. And if we do not win, I do not really care who does,” says Captain of Bulgaria Todor Aleksiev and top scorer today with 14 points.    

"Today we met a team of Bulgaria with good serve, with a good performance and on our side, we didn't play well. We are glad that we qualified for the quarterfinals, but today we didn't show our true level. We played very bad. The key of the match was the service," said the coach of Slovakia Miroslav Palgut.  

Italy vs Russia 0:3 (17-25, 15-21, 30-32)

Russia finished their campaign in Pool B with a 3:0 victory over Italy but they were made work hard for it especially as their opponents helped shape up a dramatic final rush in the third set which went well into overtime.

Italy were still vying for their first victory in the tournament and the Azzurri had nothing to lose in their last appearance at the Baku 2015 European Games. They came out strong leading the way 6:3 in the early stages of the first set but it did not take that long until Russia started unleashing their power, evidently enjoying more than just an edge over their opponents from a physical standpoint. The always outstanding distribution of their young setter Dmitry Kovalev, a former European and world junior champion, propelled a 14:11 lead for Russia and the guys in blue jerseys delighted a group of fans in attendance at Crystal Hall with their always terrific blocks and with jump serves that flew across the court like rockets. Middle blockers Ilia Vlasov and Igor Filippov did their share of the job as well and Russia’s advantage continued to grow as the set progressed, with the final 25-17 being sealed on another kill by Filippov, who had shared with Kovalev – and libero Aleksey Kabeshov – gold at the 2010 European Junior Championship in Belarus.  

This was the last real ‘night match’ of the tournament and Russia seemed very motivated not to waste too much of their time and energy but Italy, on the other hand, wanted to save their honour and played with courage to level the score at 8 shortly after the first technical time-out of the second set. Slowly but surely Russia imposed once more their superiority in the game (14:10) and some classy actions were on display halfway through the set. Russia had brought a group of young players to Baku – all of them in their early ‘20s with the only exception being libero Roman Bragin – but their talent looks already pretty well shaped even for such ‘rough jewels’. The Azzurri tried their best to put on a fight but the Russian block was as solid as a rock with Filippov and Maksim Zhigalov paving the way for a 20:15 lead for their side; it did not take that long for Russia to stamp their second set win in the match as they scored another five straight points to finish it off with an ace by Kovalev (21-15).  



The Italians were off to a strong start in the third set keeping the score tight up to 10 all but after that – similarly to what had happened in the previous set – Russia broke away and seemed well on route to claim a straight-set victory to end pool play on a high note. Russia had started the competition by upsetting tournament pre-favourite Germany and coach Sergey Shlyapnikov could even afford some changes in his starting six without impacting the consistency of his team’s performance. Russia’s rising Volleyball star Victor Poletaev made his first appearance on court on Monday night as things looked pretty settled for Russia (15:12) together with the team’s second setter Igor Kobzar, a gold medallist from this year’s CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League with Zenit KAZAN. Italy had a last chance to stretch the match to a fourth set as they drew level at 22 all, and then again at 23 for a dramatic final rush. Poletaev showed glimpses of his class to set up match point (24:23), but Russia missed another two before Tiziano Mazzone’s ace provided Italy with their first set ball (27:26). Italy could not capitalise on their two opportunities to prolong the match, and a thrilling overtime came to an end at 32-30 Russia’s way for a well-deserved 3:0 win.