25/07/2015 23:27
Estonia keep perfect record with away win in Austria
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Tulln, Austria, July 25, 2015. On Saturday night in the first of two 2015 CEV Volleyball European League matches versus Estonia, Austria had to accept a home loss as their opponents celebrated their fifth straight victory in the competition (3:1; 23-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-23). Austria’s team captain Alexander Berger and his teammates delivered a pretty solid performance in the first matchup with the current leaders of Pool A. However, in the end the hosts could not take any points from this game. On Sunday Austria and Estonia will be playing their second matchup of the weekend, starting at 17:00 CET.
The opening of the match was quite difficult for Austria that quickly trailed 1:5 but could get back on track after a break. Halfway through the opening set the hosts broke away in the score and even though Estonia could narrow their gap down to 23:24, after 29 minutes Austria’s team captain Alexander Berger clinched the first set for the home side (25-23).
The story repeated itself in the second set where once again Estonia caught a very good start (4:1). However, as they had already done in the first set, Austria did not give up. With three points in a row the hosts succeeded to come back into the match. At the first technical time-out the team of head coach Michael Warm set the pace by 8:7. Even though Austria could extend their lead up to three points before the second mandatory break (15:12), this time around the hosts could not maintain that pace through to the end. Estonia was able to cancel a four-point deficit (16:20) and finally won the set 25-21.
After restoring the balance in the match, Estonia regained their self-confidence while Austria lost control even more. By the score of 8:12 in the third set Michael Warm called a time-out and demanded a more courageous attitude by his team. But the appeal did not sort the intended effect. In fact the pre-favourites from Estonia pulled clear to 15:9 and at this stage the outcome of the third set – which the visitors eventually took by 25-18 – was already determined.
The Estonians stretched momentum to the fourth set where they claimed an early 8:5 lead. However, Austria was not yet ready to surrender. Peter Wohlfahrtstätter contributed to a two point-lead while standing behind the service line (10:8). At this stage the audience got to see a very close match. Austria had the narrowest margin going into the second technical time-out (16:15) and shortly afterwards the hosts moved the score to 20:17 in their favour. However, as it had happened also in the second set, Austria was not able to finish it off and after 113 minutes Estonia sealed the final 25-23 to celebrate their fifth consecutive victory in the competition.
Austria’s mentor Michael Warm said: “It is disappointing that we did not get any point tonight. At times my team showed a very good performance. What happened in the second set is annoying, of course. But the team has morale and I would not be surprised if tomorrow they would cause a sensation in a positive way.”
Austria’s opposite player Thomas Zass: “In general we delivered a good performance. Maybe we made too many mistakes, but this happened also because we took a lot of risks.”
Estonia’s middle blocker Ardo Kreek: “It was a tough fight for us tonight. The heat here was an unusual thing for us. In Estonia we had just 15 degrees the last few days. But after a bad start we finally found our way into the match in the second set.”
Estonia’s star and top scorer (18 points) Oliver Venno: “This wasn’t a good performance at all for us. We forgot the tactics and game plan we had agreed upon. Tomorrow we have to do better in a lot of aspects.”
Click here for more info including detailed stats of the match
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