17/07/2015 21:41
Estonia end Poland’s winning streak, claim convincing home win
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Pärnu, Estonia, July 17, 2015. On Friday night Estonia men’s national team played Poland in a match starring the two teams still boasting a perfect and immaculate record in Pool A of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League – Men. After this matchup only Estonia can claim the same adjectives as the home team cruised to a convincing 3:0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-18) win.
Poland started the first set really well. They went up 3:0 and 6:2 as it looked like the Estonian players felt a little bit nervous as they performed before some 1,500 home fans. However, Estonia recovered well from this slow start and from 6:6 the score remained tight up to 11 all. From this point it was Estonia who started to dominate the game. Poland’s coach Andrzej Kowal used his first time-out when the visitors were trailing 12:15 and then also his second by the score of 14:19, but the home team looked full of confidence and finished the first set 25-17. Poland’s efficiency in reception was as low as 25%, whereas Estonia had recorded five service aces, with two apiece for Ardo Kreek and Oliver Venno.
The second set followed a similar pattern. Poland claimed an early lead (2:0, 4:2) but Estonia fought back and the score remained very tight up to 13 all as both teams sided out successfully. However, as the second technical time-out was called, Estonia enjoyed a 16:13 lead and from there on the home team dominated the remainder of the set bringing it to an end at 25-19.
In set 3 Estonia controlled the game from start to end and cruised to a comfortable 25-18 to seal their 3:0 home win.
Estonia’s opposite Oliver Venno was the best scorer of the match with 15 points, closely followed by outside spiker Martti Juhkami with 14. Both Venno and Juhkami scored three service aces. Young outside spiker Bartosz Bednorz paced Poland with 13 points.
Poland evidently struggled in reception on Friday night. 32% was obviously not good enough for their mentor Andrzej Kowal. “Estonia served really strong, so the reception was a big problem for us and therefore our setter was put into difficult situations most of the time. For example, we were not able to play first tempo at all in the first set,” Kowal said. “However, tomorrow is another day and another game. We will watch the video of the match and come back stronger for the second game of the weekend,” he added.
“We got to play a very young opponent and I expected us to dominate the game,” commented Estonia’s mentor Gheorghe Cretu. “However, I am not fully satisfied because we can’t give away as many easy points as we did for example towards the end of the second set. It could cost us a lot when we will play against stronger teams.”
On Saturday the two teams will meet again in the Estonia’s summer capital Pärnu.
Click here for more info including detailed stats of the match
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