18/07/2015 23:26
First hurrah for Former Y.R. of Macedonia following home win over Israel
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Skopje, Former Y.R. of Macedonia, July 18, 2015. The Former Y.R. of Macedonia celebrated on Saturday night their first victory in the 2015 edition of the CEV Volleyball European League – Men. The home debut at Boris Trajkovski sports hall in Skopje was a successful one with the hosts cruising to a 3:0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-19) comfortable win over Israel.
The home side played much disciplined and eventually the players mentored by Zarko Ristoski celebrated their first hurrah in the competition, taking also maximum points from this game. They played very well in defence and also at the net, taking quite some risks also from the service line thereby making things difficult for their opponent right from the start.
After a tie at 5 all, things went just fine for the home team in the opening set as they claimed an 8:5 lead to widen it to 12:7 after the first technical time-out. Jovica Simovski (pictured, #9) and team captain Nikola Gjorgiev paced the home side, especially at blocking, and after increasing their lead to a terrific 20:11, the home heroes pocketed the first set at 25-13.
Israel offered much more resistance in the second set. The visitors got up 6:3 but the hosts flipped the charts around to make it 11:8 in their favour. The score remained tight through to 18 all and towards the end of the set Ristoski decided to give a chance to Vuk Karanovikj, who replaced Vlado Milev in the ranks of the Former Y.R. of Macedonia. Karanovikj and middle blocker Gjoko Josifov joined forces to move the score to 23:18 for the hosts and only a few moments later the home team could celebrate their 25-18 set win.
Though the third set seemed in full control by the home side, Israel posed a threat cutting their deficit to a minimum a couple of times (12:11, 15:14). Their resistance was finally broken after the second technical time-out and even though Israel’s mentor Avital Selinger asked for two consecutive time-outs, he could not prevent the Former Y.R. of Macedonia from winning the game in three sets (25-19).
Jovica Simovski paced the home team with 14 points followed by team captain Nikola Gjorgiev on 11. Alexander Shafranovich was the most prolific player for Israel with 12 points.
The re-match will follow on Sunday at 17:30 local time, again at Boris Trajkovski sports hall in Skopje.
Click here for more info including detailed stats of the match
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