10/07/2015 18:56
Denmark down Israel to cruise to first victory in their 2015 European League campaign
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Ra’anana, Israel, July 10, 2015. After losing two matches in a row to Poland as they made their home debut last week in Slagelse, Denmark men’s national team bounced back on Friday to cruise to a 3:0 win (25-19, 25-21, 25-23) in their first matchup with Israel at Metrowest Sport Palace in Ra’anana. Israel, on the other hand, continued with their negative streak in Pool A of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League – Men since last week they had already lost twice (0:3 and 1:3) to Austria in Enns.
Actually Israel caught a promising start leading by 6:4 in the opening set but the visitors from Denmark were able to flip the charts around already at the first technical time-out where they got to the front at 8:7 on a couple of successful blocks. Israel’s Viacheslav Batchkala kept the score tight spiking for the 9:10 but Denmark claimed a five-point lead at the second technical time-out (16:11) on an ace by their rising star Peter Trolle Bonnesen. Genadi Sokolov reduced Israel’s gap down to three points (16:13) but despite his good performance, Denmark continued to set the pace of the game (20:14) before finishing it off at 25-19.
Denmark opened the second set cruising to a 5:2 lead and their advantage still stood at three points as the first technical time-out was called (8:5). They could hold on to it (19:16) and an ace by Simon Gade sealed the final 25-21 in favour of the Scandinavian team.
Denmark was off to a good start also in set 3 (8:7) before Israel levelled the score at 9 and 13. With two more points scored by Tamir Hershko, Israel got to the front (16:14) but Denmark came back strong to make it 16 all. Israel then re-opened the gap with three straight points contributed by Alexander Shafranovich and Genadi Sokolov but the Danes fought back again and eventually sealed their 3:0 win (25-23).
Israeli coach Avital Selinger looked disappointed after the game: “We made a lot of mistakes and paid a high price for that. We are a young team and there are no shortcuts in our learning process.”
Denmark’s mentor Mikael Trolle – whose son Peter Trolle Bonnesen top scored in the end with 14 points – on the other hand was visibly pleased with his team’s first victory in the 2015 edition of the European League. “This is an incredible experience for us, we strive to achieve the highest levels and this is a great way to do that, we did not play bad at all. We won because we recorded a lot of blocks and thanks to our excellent serving. We are pleased to have the chance to visit Israel and to play here.”
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