12/07/2015 21:46
Belarus bounce back to celebrate first European League win in Croatia
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Rovinj, Croatia, July 12, 2015. After losing the first matchup with hosts Croatia on Saturday, the men’s national team of Belarus got back on track on Sunday night and cruised to their first victory in this year’s CEV Volleyball European League. The players coached by Victor Sidelnikov cruised to a 3:1 win (20-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-19) to take their first three points in Pool B before next week they travel to Romania for another double header, this time in the city of Craiova.
Croatia’s local heroes started the match on Sunday night knowing they had pocketed the previous one the day before with relative ease but after winning the opening set, the home side suffered a drop of concentration and at the same time the level of efficiency they showed in reception and attack fell quite dramatically. This paved the way with gold for Belarus that easily claimed the second set (25-16) and had the upper hand also in the third stanza after a close final rush (25-23). The score remained tight up to 13 all in the fourth set but after that Belarus slowly but surely broke away and brought the match to an end thereby cashing three ‘valuable’ points for the standing of Pool B.
Andrei Razdiuk was just unstoppable and scored 27 points Belarus whereas Ivan Raic and Toni Kovacevic paced Croatia in their losing effort with 17 and 15, respectively. Ivan Mihalj recorded as many as six block stuffs but he also could not help Croatia avenge this bitter home loss.
Croatia’s team captain Tsimafei Zhukouski said: “Tiredness played a role tonight. We didn’t have enough time to prepare to play matches on two consecutive days as it happened here in Rovinj. We did our best but the fatigue was somehow stronger than our desire to win.”
Artsiom Haramykin, team captain of Belarus, said: “Today we had more luck than yesterday and we felt much better on the field of play. Our long and tiring trip to Croatia was the main reason why we did not perform that well in our first match here in Rovinj.”
Click here for more info including detailed stats of the match
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