11/07/2015 20:05
Slovenia off to flying start in European League
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Samsun, Turkey, July 11, 2015. After last year they made the semis, Slovenia started their campaign in the 2015 edition of the CEV Volleyball European League – Men in the best way cruising to a 3:0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-19) win over hosts Turkey in their first matchup of the weekend in Samsun.
Slovenia and Turkey caught a nervous start into the game and the score remained tight up to 11 all. Turkey’s mentor Emanuele Zanini asked for a first break after Slovenia had edged ahead at 12:11 but the visitors continued to perform well breaking away thanks to their superb spikes. The first set eventually ended at 25-21 Slovenia’s way with Alen Sket producing an outstanding 67% of efficiency in attack and chiefly contributing to his side’s set win.
The second set followed a similar plot with Turkey looking much determined to take the lead and to restore the balance in the match. However, the hosts trailed by two points at the second technical time-out and Zanini asked for another stop of the actions by the time Turkey were 19:23 down. The crowd in attendance at Dagistanli sports hall in Samsun cheered the home heroes on with a lot of passion hoping to help their comeback but even though Ufuk Minici recorded six points all alone in this stanza for Turkey, Mitja Gasparini and his mind-boggling 83% in attack helped Slovenia pocket a second 25-21 set win.
Slovenia was off to a comfortable 8:4 lead in the third set and widened it to four points at the second mandatory stop (16:12). The visitors did not look back anymore and brought the set and the match to an end at 25-19 with Gasparini top scoring with 16 points followed by Turkey’s opposite Ufuk Minici with 15.
Slovenia coach Andrea Giani said: “We played very well today so I am quite pleased with the result. In the first set, we improved the quality of our game and now we look forward to tomorrow’s game to see what we can do so as to take another victory.”
Slovenia captain Tine Urnaut: “We expected a tough match and Turkey were extremely tough in the first part of the game but we improved our serves, blocks and increased our efficiency with our counter attacks. That’s why at halfway through each set we made a quality step-up and won today.”
Turkey coach Emanuele Zanini: “Slovenia had strong blocks and serves and for us to reach that level we need to work hard and make some changes.”
Turkey captain Caner Peksen: “We didn’t start the match very well, we did our best but we need to try harder. For tomorrow’s game we will be prepared in the best way after focussing on our weaknesses and on what went wrong today.”
Turkey and Slovenia will be crossing their ways once more on Sunday with the match starting at 5pm local time.
Click here for more info including detailed stats of the match
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