25/07/2015 21:43
Slovenia make it five in a row with straight set win over Belarus
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Brest, Belarus, July 25, 2015. Slovenia extended their winning streak in Pool B of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League – Men to five consecutive matches after on Saturday the players around Italian Volleyball legend Andrea Giani cruised to a 3:0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-15) win over hosts Belarus in Brest.
The day before the first matchup with Slovenia, home mentor Victor Sidelnikov had said it was important for his side to catch a good start in the opening set. And actually his players were able to accomplish this mission as Belarus was 16:13 up at the second technical time-out. Andrei Radziuk and Raman Aplevich were those who paced the home side but Slovenia responded with their star players Mitja Gasparini and Klemen Cebulj to flip the charts around. After making it 22:20 in their favour, Cebulj finished the first set at 25-21.
Slovenia got the right edge already at the second mandatory stop (16:12) of the following set but this could not prevent a dramatic final rush. Belarus performed well from the service line and cut their deficit, but again Slovenia was the better side, especially at the net.
In the third and eventually final set, Belarus struggled in reception while Gasparini and Cebulj continued their show to steer Slovenia to their fifth straight win in the competition.
“At the beginning of the match we were not focussed enough and Belarus tried to impose their rhythm at the net,” Slovenia’s coach Andrea Giani said. “However, we regrouped and performed well in defence and reception. After Gasparini and Cebulj took more responsibility, everything got quite easy for us. It is important to take three points from this match to cement our leadership in the pool.”
“We caught a good start but too many mistakes prevented us from winning the opening set,” said Belarusian coach Victor Sidelnikov. “We know that Slovenia stands at a higher level right now and we had to play beyond our limits to stand a chance, but we failed to do so. We will try to achieve this goal tomorrow, in the meantime I hope the players will regroup and clean their minds.”
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