02/08/2015 23:23
Former Y.R. of Macedonia take maximum points from home matches with Austria
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Skopje, Former Y.R. of Macedonia, August 2, 2015. As they had hoped for, the national team of the Former Y.R. of Macedonia got maximum six points from their home matches with Austria on schedule for the fifth round of play in Pool A of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League – Men. On Sunday they added another straight-set win (25-22, 25-19, 25-22) to the one they had claimed on Saturday in their first matchup with Austria at Boris Trajkovski sports hall in the country’s capital Skopje.
Before the start of the match a special ceremony was organised to bid farewell to middle blocker Zoran Gjorgevski who – after spending 15 years with the national team – had announced that he would retire from the international scene.
Austria played with a lot more determination than they had done on Saturday and especially their middle blocker Peter Wohlfahrtstätter and opposite Thomas Zass seemed to have found the right pace. However, Zass injured his right ankle by the score of 10:11 in the opening set and he did not join the actions anymore for the remainder of the match. Though Zass had to leave the court, Austria continued to push hard and got up by 16:11 at the second technical time-out. At this stage Jovica Simovski took his side by the hand and the Former Y.R. of Macedonia eventually levelled the score at 19 all. After a few side-outs, the hosts were able to take the first set home by the score of 25-22.
The second set was a close run up to 12 all but after that the home heroes recorded a series of five points versus only one for their opponents to move the score to 17:13 in their favour and lay the cornerstone for their 25-19 set win.
Austria got back on track in the early stages of the third set but equality lasted only up to 11 all. The Former Y.R. of Macedonia accelerated their pace and moved the score to 17:13, something which was a prelude to their set win. The youngest player on the roster of the home side, Filip Madjunkov, got the chance to enjoy his European League debut before the local crowd and he paid back the trust shown by his mentor Zarko Ristoski. Austria cut their deficit to one point at 21:20, but after a time-out the hosts were able to find back their rhythm and they brought the match to an end after three sets (25-22).
Next week the Former Y.R. of Macedonia will travel to Poland for the last round of pool play hoping to get the points they need to make the Final Four tournament scheduled for August 13-14 in Walbrzych, Poland.
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