08/08/2015 23:47
Croatia seal home victory after five-set battle with Romania
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Zagreb, Croatia, August 8, 2015. In a match starring two teams that stand no chance to make the Final Four tournament coming up next week in Walbrzych, Poland, Croatia and Romania played five long sets with the hosts eventually edging past after a dramatic tie-break (25-18, 25-20, 20-25, 21-25, 19-17) in the last round of pool play of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League – Men.
Everything went just easy for the home side in the first and second sets but the course of the game changed quite suddenly and it turned into an uphill climb for the local heroes. Croatia set the tone right from the start of the opening set showing good reception and full command of the play at the net. The second set required a bit more efforts from the Croatian side which was nevertheless well marshalled by their setter Tsimafei Zhukouski. The hosts suffered a drop of concentration in the third set and Romania came back strong, changing the course of the game. They claimed the third set whereas the fourth one’s final fate was difficult to predict. The tie-break was really tense and dramatic with the score being levelled at 13 all before Croatia snatched victory at 19-17.
Croatian mentor Igor Simuncic commented: “As long as we were concentrated everything went according to plan. We did not expect our opponent would fight so bravely through to the end and we can’t afford making so any mistakes if we want to win.”
Romania’s coach Danut Pascu said: “It took us some time to find our rhythm. We changed our mentality after losing the first two sets. We had nothing to lose so we went for all or nothing. I congratulate my team, they fought for every ball. We will try to perform even better tomorrow!”
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