18/07/2015 23:08
Estonia emulate Greece and record fourth straight home win
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Pärnu, Estonia, July 18, 2015. On Saturday night Estonia men’s national team played once again Poland in their second home match with the young heirs of the reigning world champions and this time the hosts faced much more resistance than the day before. A real rollercoaster ended with the home heroes eventually celebrating a 3:1 (25-22, 18-25, 34-32, 25-17) win to keep a perfect record in Pool A of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League – Men.
Both teams started the first set looking quite nervous. Estonia was not as confident as in the first match, probably also because their mentor Gheorghe Cretu had made four changes in their starting line-up introducing also young setter Kusti Nõlvak who replaced Estonia’s most experienced player and current captain Kert Toobal. Estonia was nevertheless able to lead for most of the time by three, four points, before Poland levelled the score at 21:21. Unfortunately for the visiting team, after making it 21 all, the Poles made a service error – they registered as many as seven in the opening set – thereby paving the way for the final 25-22 Estonia’s way.
Estonia’s best player in the first set was Renee Teppan with six points. Both teams improved their efficiency in reception compared to the previous match as Estonia had 53% whilst Poland recorded 54%.
In the second set the young players from Poland showed what they are capable of. They were leading quite comfortably from the very beginning of this stanza. As Cretu brought in Robert Täht for Martti Juhkami, it was already too late for an Estonian comeback and Poland claimed the set 25-18. Poland’s serve was very aggressive, they again made seven errors in this fundamental, but at the same time they forced Estonia’s reception down to 22% in terms of efficiency.
The third set was the most important one. Poland went into lead, but Estonia fought back and levelled the score at 14 all. From this moment the score remained tight until the very end. Both teams showed great defensive work during that nervous end of the set, where Estonia’s opposite Oliver Venno and outside spiker Robert Täht were the ones to shine the most as the hosts had the upper hand well into extra time at 34-32.
In set 4 Poland didn’t have any real chances to fight back; Estonia took the initiative from the very beginning and by serving strong, they eventually closed it out at 25-17 to celebrate their fourth consecutive home win in the European League.
Poland’s outside spiker Bartosz Bednorz was the best scorer of the match with 27 points. Estonia’s outside spiker Robert Täht paced the home team with 14 points, including three service aces.
“Today we had a very different game than yesterday’s one and I am satisfied with my young team. We need difficult matches like this to improve and we gave Estonia a good fight today. I am especially happy that we performed much better in reception than we had done yesterday,” said Poland’s mentor Andrzej Kowal. “Estonia is a very strong team. I would also like to thank the crowd here in Pärnu as the atmosphere was really nice and it was a pleasure to play here,” he added.
“My team played with a good spirit and the team work was also just fine. We came out from a difficult situation after losing the second set and I am really proud of all of my players,” said Estonia’s mentor Gheorghe Cretu. He also explained his decision to go for a number of changes compared to the first match on Friday: “I changed some of the players because our young boys need some serious games as well, so this was a good chance to test some of them today.”
Click here for more info including detailed stats of the match
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