18/07/2015 22:44
Greece make it four home wins in a row in European League
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Thessaloniki, Greece, July 18, 2015. Greece remains undefeated in the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League – Men as the hosts beat Turkey 3:1 (25-14, 20-25, 32-30, 25-17) once again at Evosmos Municipal Sports Hall just as they had done the day before, thus successfully completing their second weekend of action in Pool B.
Sotirios Drikos’s players were unstoppable in set 1 and they left no chance to their opponents, who had many problems in reception. Greece made it 9:4 thanks to a 4-0 streak and further on got away with 13:5 and 22:12, before winning the set 25-14 in a comfortable fashion.
Things turned upside down in set 2, as Emanuele Zanini put Izzet Ünver and Ugur Günes on court and his side found some balance. The Turkish side transformed the initial 4:4 into a 9:5 lead and took a lot of risks with their service, a fact which helped the visitors maintain the lead without too much trouble (10:6, 12:8, 13:9) and even expand it towards the end (19:14, 23:15). The Greek players only managed to trim down the difference (20:24), but Ufuk Minici finished the set with a successful attack.
Set 3 saw Greece take an early lead (11:7), but the visitors stroke back, made it 11:10 and eventually took an important lead before the second technical time-out (16:13) when the referees decided that Rafail Koumentakis had touched the net and Greek coach Drikos got a red card for protesting against that decision.
The Greek side calmed down and came up 20:19, before things went crazy: Turkey took a 23:21 lead thanks to a 3-0 rally, but the local team answered in the same way powered by Athanasios Protopsaltis, who was irresistible as a server (24:23). Greece missed out on four set-balls in a row, Turkey had their chance when they took the lead (28:27), but it was Georgios Petreas the one to say the last word: the Greek blocker made it 31:30 first with a quick attack from the middle and then 32-30 with a great block on Minici.
The importance of set 3 was reflected on the way both teams reacted in set 4, which was a Greek monologue. Boosted by the home crowd, Sotirios Drikos’s players were constantly up in the scoreboard (8:6 at the first technical time-out, 16:13 at the second one), got away with five afterwards (19:14) and won easily 25-17 against a rival which ran out of power and faith after having dramatically lost the previous set.
Greece’s mentor Sotirios Drikos said: “Today it was a men’s match with two very tough sets, but in the first and in the fourth ones we played much better than our opponents did. I believe that it is very important for our team that we participate in two major competitions, the World League and the European League. We do not have the privilege of having a lot of players in order to turn them, but we manage to have a solid group of players and we give to all of them the chance to play and to improve their skills.”
Athanasios Protopsaltis, outside spiker of Greece: “Once more we played very well and we played with our heart especially in the crucial moments. We have four wins in a row now and we want to continue this way. It is important to have a winning character as a team but I think that the most important thing is that we have 15 players who are always ready to play and to give their best.”
Murat Yenipazar, setter of Turkey: “We tried hard, we did our best but again we have to realise that we have to do more if we want to win matches like this one. We need more time in order to be a big team but I am sure we will be because we are working really hard with our coach. Today it was a balanced match but once more we made more mistakes than our opponents.”
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