08/08/2015 23:12
Slovenia extend winning streak to nine matches, Greece with their back against the wall
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Maribor, Slovenia, August 8, 2015. The first clash starring Slovenia and Greece played in Maribor for the last round of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League wasn’t just a battle for prestige and for first place in Pool B. The Slovenians have indeed already secured their participation in the Final Four tournament in Walbrzych, Poland, already after the fourth round last week by stamping eight consecutive wins, whilst Greece still at least one point to make the final stage of the competition after the Former Y.R. of Macedonia claimed their two away matches against Poland in Pool A this weekend. Slovenia eventually extended their winning streak (25-13, 26-24, 18-25, 25-23) to nine matches in a row and Greece will have a make-or-break bout on Sunday if they want to seal their ticket to Walbrzych.
Slovenia's mentor Andrea Giani made some changes to his team’s roster for the weekend by including young middle blocker Jan Kozamernik and libero Klemen Hribar. On the other hand Greek head coach Sotirios Drikos couldn’t count on his outstanding outside spiker Athanasios Protopsaltis.
Slovenia claimed an early 5:2 lead in the opening set with Klemen Cebulj standing behind the service line and maintained it through the first technical time-out. Uros Pavlovic and Mitja Gasparini secured an even more comfortable cushion for the home team with their tactical serves and aces and Greece couldn’t get back on track even after two half-minute breaks and a substitution. Gasparini served all the way to 17:7 and there was only one side on the court until the end of the first set (25-13).
The second set was a close race from the beginning to 15 all, as either team wasn’t able to edge ahead by more than two points. The players of both sides made many service errors, but there were also some exciting rallies to delight the audience. Slovenia showed the power of their offense and also the combination of good defence and counter attacks of Tine Urnaut and Cebulj to get to the front by six points at 21:15. By 24:17 the home side suffered a drop of concentration and Apostolos Armenakis scored an amazing series of serves. Giani took his first time-out at 24:22, but the break didn’t stop the Greek opposite and the visitors eventually drew level at 24 all. Alen Pajenk brought up another set point for Slovenia and Gasparini served well again and forced his opponents to make a mistake thereby bringing the set to an end (26-24).
The third set was dominated by the Greek team who imposed their rule in all aspects of the game, especially with their effective serves and counter attacks, executed by the unstoppable Menelaos Kokkinakis. The visitors stormed to a six-point lead at 13:7; Giani decided to go for a time-out as his team trailed 6:11 and substituted Pavlovic with Jan Kozamernik. The Slovenians stepped up their efforts and managed to come back into the game at 12:13, but after that Greece started serving very well again, stopped the powerful Slovenian spikers and took control of the game, winning the third set by 18-25.
Greece took an early control of the fourth set with a 5:2 lead, but the home team managed to stay close on the scoreboard and got in front at 6:5, before the visitors flipped the charts around once more. It was still a head-to-head race until the middle of the set, with Greece being ahead by one or two points. After the score stood at 10:13 Slovenia managed to reduce their gap down to one point with the help of Klemen Cebulj. Drikos’s players broke into a three-point lead (13:16) again, and Giani was forced to take a time-out by the score of 14:18 after another successful serve by Ioannis Takouridis. Still trailing at 16:20, the hosts responded with an attack of Urnaut and an ace of Cebulj. Greece stayed ahead (20:22, 21:23), but then things went down for the visitors as Giani’s players regained momentum, closed the gap to make it 23 all and eventually scored the next points to finish it off at 25-23 with a block by their youngster Jan Kozamernik.
Slovenia’s mentor Andrea Giani commented: “The early stages of the match were very easy for us, as we played really good, but later on we lost our rhythm. Greece managed to get back into the game and drew level at 24 all in the second set but still we could finish it off. The third set was the same. We couldn’t find our rhythm and our concentration went down. But for me this kind of matches is just perfect, because we have to learn how to win this kind of sets and games. In the fourth set we were behind, but we were patient, coming back again and again, and our side-out was good. It was a perfect match for us.”
Jan Kozamernik, Slovenia’s middle blocker: “I could not imagine that I would get the chance to play already in this match. Of course I took it and tried to give my best. The last block to seal the victory was my perfect debut under Giani’s tenure.”
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