17/07/2015 23:02
Greece extend winning streak, delight home fans in first matchup with Turkey
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Thessaloniki, Greece, July 17, 2015. Greece men’s national team celebrated their third victory in as many games they have contested so far in the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League – Men as they beat Turkey 3:1 (25-23, 26-24, 23-25, 25-22) at Evosmos Municipal Sports Hall for the second weekend of action in Pool B. The two teams will face each other again on Saturday at 20:00 local time at the same venue.
The hosts stay on top of Pool B with a total of nine points so far, after taking advantage of their rivals’ many errors throughout the game. Greece failed to capitalise on those errors at the beginning of opening set when Turkey was better in attack and came from behind to take the lead at 12:14 and 16:19. Nevertheless, Greece stroke back with Apostolos Armenakis standing behind the service line, they made it 21:21 and eventually prevailed 25-23 thanks to a 3-0 rally, which ended with a missed attack by Ufuk Minici.
Set 2 wasn’t too much different, as the visitors seemed to have everything under control, as they were 6:9 and 9:13 up. However, the score changed from 16:19 into 24:21 for Greece thanks to an 8-2 run by the hosts. The Turks fought back and made it 24 all, denying to surrender but the local side finished it off 26-24, Armenakis earning the last point with an unstoppable spike.
The Turkish team changed things in set 3, with some new faces on court, and their luck changed as well: this time, the Greeks took an early lead (6:3, 9:6), just to dissipate it with a series of errors. Turkey had a 5-0 rally, which gave them a 15:19 lead, including three service aces by Baturalp Burak Güngör, and they even got away with a five-point advantage (16:21). Sotirios Drikos’s players trimmed that difference, aided by two aces by Armenakis, but Minici said the last word and made it 23-25 for Turkey with a successful attack.
The heat was on at Evosmos Municipal Sports Hall, both literally and metaphorically, but the Greek players kept their cool in set 4 and managed to clinch another three-pointer victory: even though Turkey got away at 9:13 after a 4-0 run, the local team answered accordingly and retook the lead just before the second technical time-out (16:14). From then on, things became easier for Greece, which built a four-point difference (20:16) and won the set 25-22 after Gökhan Gökgöz’s service fault.
Sotirios Drikos, coach of Greece, said: “It was a match with a lot of ups and downs and this remains the main problem for our team and this happens due to a lack of concentration. The only part of the game where we were totally focussed was the last points of the first two sets and the fourth set. In all other situations we had our mind on the referees and we made a lot of individual errors and did not stick to our game plan. We have to work more into this kind of situations if we want to improve. If we want to upgrade our level it is very important to keep our mind only on the game and nowhere else. As I said in the previous weekend the most important match is the second one.”
Rafail Koumentakis, outside spiker of Greece: “I think we played a good match against a very strong opponent. I think the key point was our performance in service because we created a lot of problems to their reception but now we have to rest and try to play even better tomorrow.”
Emanuele Zanini, coach of Turkey: “The key point of the match was the first two sets, when it was obvious that the experience was on the side of the Greek team. I cannot say that we played bad but we need something more to win a match like this. I’m sure that match but match we will play better but I think today we lost a good chance to claim a very important victory.”
Caner Peksen, captain of Turkey: “We tried to do our best but we have to admit that Greece played better than us. Especially we didn’t manage to win some crucial points and I hope we will be better tomorrow. We have a young team and we lost our concentration in the first two sets.”
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