03/07/2015 23:42
Convincing victory for Austria in European League opener with Israel
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Enns, Austria, July 3, 2015. Austria men’s national team caught a very promising start of their campaign in the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League – Men as the hosts cruised to a fairly speedy 3:0 win (25-18, 25-22, 25-19) in their season opener in Enns. On Saturday the two teams will play each other again to complete their first weekend of action in Pool A with the match starting at 7pm local time and taking place once more at the local Sporthalle in Enns.
Israel actually came out strong and claimed an 8:5 lead at the first technical time-out of the opening set. After the break Austrian mentor Michael Warm had to substitute Thomas Zass because of injury. But with the contribution of substitute Thomas Tröthann the match got its turning point. Austria succeeded in drawing level and subsequently was able to edge ahead claiming a comfortable lead (20:15). This set the tone for the remainder of the set which eventually came to a close at 25-18 after 27 minutes of play.
Austria’s quest for a home victory was somehow stopped in the early stages of the second set where Israel got up first by 5:1 and then by 8:4 at the first technical time-out. However, as it had happened also in the previous stanza, Austria did not give in that easily. After levelling the score at 9 all, the home team took command of the operations and moved into the lead with a margin of four points (15:11). With this advantage in their pocket Austria continued to dictate the tempo of the game and brought the second set to an end at 25-22.
After losing set 1 and 2, Israel could not pose a real threat to Austria anymore. The third set became a demonstration of power by the Austrian team. After securing a quick lead (8:3) the home team brought home the match quite masterfully. After 83 minutes of play an Israeli error decided the third set (25-19) with Austria cashing a well-deserved 3:0 home win and with Thomas Tröthann and team captain Alexander Berger finishing the match in double digits on 19 and 12 points, respectively.
Austria’s mentor Michael Warm said: “We started a little nervous in this amazing arena; however I do owe my compliments to the team which has shown a steady performance. We forced our opponent to play a match that was not the kind of game they had expected and they would prefer. So the Israelis could not bring their strengths into play. But tomorrow I expect a much more difficult match.”
Israel’s coach Avital Selinger said: “We have shown a very good performance at times, but we were not able to keep this level throughout the entire match. We did not succeed in putting some pressure with our serve and in the end this was not enough to stand a chance of winning this game.”
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