31/07/2015 23:26
Belarus end Greece’s winning streak after seven matches
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Lamia, Greece, July 31, 2015. On Friday night Belarus put an end to Greece’s winning streak in the 2015 edition of the CEV Volleyball European League as they beat the hosts in straight sets (25-23, 25-21, 25-16). After losing the first matchup with Greece on Thursday, the players of Victor Sidelnikov celebrated their second win in the competition after delivering an excellent performance.
Although the local heroes seemed to control the game in the first two sets, in the final stages the visitors never gave up. In the first set Greece were leading by four points (17:13) but Aleh Akhrem’s serves helped Belarus make it 17 all and then edge ahead 24:21. Greece attempted a comeback and scored two points in a row but Akhrem’s block finished the first set at 25-23 for the visitors.
In the second set Greece took the lead by 16:12, but once more Belarus turned things around. First they made it 17 all and then dominated the scene with some excellent block points to finish it off at 25-21.
After a close start in the third set (6:6) the visitors got up by 10:6 and they stayed on track to extend their lead to 21:13 before they eventually celebrated their second away victory in the competition (25-16), following one they had claimed a couple of weeks ago in Romania.
Sotirios Drikos, coach of Greece: “This defeat gives more value to our previous victories because now everyone can understand that we are playing against very good teams. Belarus today played better in all the fundamentals of the game and their victory is totally deserved. Our attacks and our serves weren’t as strong as they should be at this level.”
Georgios Petreas, middle blocker of Greece: “After three months this was our first defeat in straight sets. Belarus deserved to win today, we congratulate them but we didn’t lose anything. We are still fighting for a spot in the Final Four and will do everything we can in order to travel to Poland.”
Victor Sidelnikov, coach or Belarus: “Today we performed the way we can and I think this is normal because yesterday my team was very tired after the very long trip we had. Also I have to say that we were facing some injuries and I was sure that we would win the second match. I’m very happy with the reaction of my team.”
Artsiom Haramykin, captain of Belarus: “We watched yesterday’s match in our hotel, we identified our mistakes and we prepared our tactics accordingly. We played really well today. We did everything the way we had to and we played like a team.”
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