Varna, Bulgaria, September 3, 2016. Turkey rebounded from Friday’s loss, shutting out Belarus by 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-20) in the opening Pool II match on the second competition day of the Final Round of the 2016 CEV U20 Volleyball European Championship - Men. The second match in Varna presented Italy and Serbia with the chance for a second win and the Italians took advantage of it with a 3-0 (25-14, 26-24, 25-20) victory. The Czech Republic put on a tough battle in the last match of the day, but Russia persevered to claim a dramatic 3-2 (25-16, 22-25, 26-28, 25-17, 15-11) victory.
The Belarusians started the match better. Maksim Shkredau pressured the Turkish reception with his float serves and after some unforced errors by Mehmet Bedestenloglu’s players Belarus led by 8-5 at the first time-out. The problems in the Turkish reception continued. Kiryl Kapylou scored an ace, captain Kiryl Kubar made a clever technical spike and Belarus managed to stay two points ahead at 13-11. At this moment the problems for the Belarusians started. Adis Lagumdzija destroyed the opponents’ reception with four powerful serves in a row, including one ace, and Turkey led by 16-14 at the second technical time-out. The players of Belarus started to make a lot of easy mistakes and coach Uladzimir Maisiyevich made some substitutions, but Turkey did not lose control and won the opening set by 25-22.
Both teams started well in the second set, but the Turkish setter Ogulcan Yatgin made the difference with his serves - two aces in a row, one counter attack and one kill block in the middle gave Turkey a 9-5 lead. The Turkish players continued their good blocking efforts and at the second technical time-out their advantage increased to eight points. Through the end Turkey were like a Volleyball machine and won the set by 25-13.
Turkey continued to be in control in the third set and led by 8-5 at the first technical time-out. The Belarusians made a lot of mistakes in all elements and the Turkish players had a six-point advantage at the second. Belarus showed their fighting spirit in the last minutes of the match, but in the long rallies they continued to make easy errors and Mehmet Bedestenloglu’s players closed the set at 25-20.
Abdullah Cam was the best scorer of the match with 18 points for Turkey. His teammate Adis Lagumdzija added another 12. None of the Belarusian scorers reached the double digits.
Abdulah Cam, player of Turkey and best scorer of the match: “We played well today. After yesterday we came here motivated to get our first victory. Now everything is okay. We managed to win in three sets and now it is time to move on and think about the next opponent. Tomorrow we will play against the Czech Republic. It will be a tough game, but all teams at this championship are strong. So we must show our best and beat them.”
Adis Lagumdzija, player of Turkey: “We showed what we can do but it is still not enough. Sometimes we play well and we show our best level but after that we have problems and our level falls down. We can always do better, but tomorrow it is a new match and a new opportunity to shine. Our next opponent, the Czech Republic, are a good team, but they are here without their best player Donovan Dzavoronok. Despite this fact they have a very good opposite, but, if we play like we did today or even better, we can beat them.”
Kiryl Kapylou, player of Belarus: “We started the match well and played equal in the first set, but after that we had a lot of problems in reception. They had really good serving and we just did not manage to improve our reception. Our attack started to struggle and the Turkish team showed really good defence in the long rallies during the sets.”
Uladzimir Maisiyevich, coach of Belarus: “We played well in some moments during the match, but this is not enough. Maybe the level of this championship is too high, but we will try to do our best in the next games.”
Realising the importance of the match, both teams started carefully. Pietro Margutti scored an ace to make the score 13-10 to Italy, but the most dangerous player from the serving line was his captain Gianluca Galassi. His two aces and a kill block from his teammates extended Italy’s lead to 18-11. The Italian blockers, among whom setter Riccardo Sbertoli with three kills, did a fantastic job in the next minutes and Italy won by 25-15.
Italy started better in the second set and led by 4-1, but after some mistakes and one ace from Boris Busa, Serbia had a point advantage at the first technical time-out. The left hand of Yuri Romano helped Italy regain the lead by the second technical time-out - 16-15. The Serbs made some spiking errors and Italy took a 20-17 advantage. Serbia managed to come back, but in the end Boris Busa spiked out of bounds and Italy won the second set by 26-24.
The third set was a completely different story. In the beginning, the Italian block was always in the right place and the young Italians made an impressive run to 6-1. Block after block for Italy and mistake after mistake for Serbia predestined the third set, which was closed by Italy at 25-20.
Serbia’s David Mehic and Italy’s Pietro Margutti were the best scorers of the match with 12 points each.
David Mehic, captain of Serbia: “Italy played really well and executed their tactical game plan from the first to the last minute. Obviously they are a great team. We knew what to expect, but we lost and now we should think about our next match against Belarus. We must come here tomorrow and continue the championship with a victory.”
Vladimir Vasovic, coach of Serbia: “It was a tough match, but today we just did not play well. Against a strong team like Italy you must show your best if you want to achieve something. We did not play well technically and tactically. Our serve was worse today. If you have a good serve you will be better in blocking and defence. Italy showed discipline, made fewer errors and I am a little bit frustrated because we did not give everything from us and this is a problem. But tomorrow it is a new day, a new match and a new chance for us.”
Gabriele Di Martino, player of Italy: “It was a hard match because Serbia are a strong team, but we managed to improve our performance in all elements compared to yesterday against the Czech Republic. Our biggest weapons today were our block and our reception. Now we must think about tomorrow.”
Alessandro Piccinnelli, player of Italy: “During the match we were psychically stronger and maybe this was the key to our success. Tomorrow it will be a really important match against Russia. We played against them in the last European Championship in Turkey and we won by 3-0 in the pool stage. Earlier this summer we also played some friendly matches against them. It will be tough for sure, but I hope to win.”
Ivan Piskarev was on fire in the first minutes of the match and Russia took an 8-3 lead by the first time-out. Russia continued to make kill blocks and at the second pause they had a six-point advantage. The Russian blockers stopped the Czech opposite Matej Smidl and put on the bench. After two powerful serves and two counter-attacks in a row Russia closed the opening set by a comfortable 25-16.
The Czech Republic made a completely different start in the second set – with good reception and clever spikes the Czechs took an 11-7 lead. At this moment the captain of Russia Konstantin Abaev did a great job with his powerful serves and Russia made four points in a row for 11-11. The next minutes belonged to the second Czech opposite, Patrik Indra. An ace, a perfect attack and a clever block led the Czech Republic to a five-point advantage at 19-14. It was Indra who made the difference in the long rallies and the Czechs won the second set by 25-22.
Czechia continued to play pretty well and they had a point advantage at the first time-out of the third set. Some good serving and blocking helped Russia take the lead for 16-14 at the second mandatory break. Aleksei Kononov’s powerful spike through the middle made the score 17-14. Patrik Indra scored an ace to get the Czechs to a point behind at 17-18. With some great defensive actions they stepped ahead for 21-20. Marek Sulc made a really clever block-out and then a single block against Dmitry Yakovlev to give a crucial advantage to his team at 24-22. The Czechs missed these two opportunities to close the set, but eventually Martin Kop managed to finish a long rally with a powerful spike above the Russian block and Czechia won the set by 28-26.
Coach Mikhail Nikolaev’s players found the right answers in the fourth set and Russia led by 16-11 at the second time-out. With good serving, blocking and defence, the Russians increased their advantage to eight points by 21-13 and it was only a matter of time to win the set - 25-17.
The two teams were absolutely concentrated at the beginning of the tie-break and with a perfect side-out Russia had a minimum 8-7 lead at the switch. Dmitry Yakovlev caught the moment and with a clinical spike made the score 11-9. In the next rally Aleksei Kononov stopped the Czech attack for 12-9. Eventually Martin Kop served into the net and Russia won the battle after a final 15-11 in the deciding set.
Dmitry Yakovlev was the best scorer of the match with 27 points for Russia. His teammate Aleksei Kononov was responsible for another 21, while Martin Kop led the scorers on the Czech side with 20.
Dmitry Yakovlev, player of Russia and best scorer of the match: “We made too many mistakes during the match and we were in a difficult position. Yes, we managed to win and this is very good for us, but at the same time we lost one point, which may decide the winner in this pool in the end. Italy are a very strong team. We played against them earlier this summer. Tomorrow we must win, because the mission of my team is the gold medal.”
Mikhail Nikolaev, coach of Russia: “It was a good match against a strong opponent. They had two absolutely different opposites – one left-handed and one right-handed – and it was really difficult for us. But for my players it is important to play matches like this one because they help them grow. Now we must rest and prepare for the match against Italy, which can be the deciding one for the first place in the pool.”
Kristian Cervinka, captain of Czech Republic: “It was a great match, but in the end we made some mistakes and Russia showed why they are one of the best teams in Europe and in the world as well. We did not give up and we fought during the whole match, but in the end they were better. We must win our next matches. Our main goal is to qalify for the second four, so this point today can help us achieve this.”
Tomas Smolka, assistant coach of Czech Republic: “It was a very good match for us. This is a very important point, which can prove precious on the last day. We made three mistakes more than Russia in the end and we lost. But Russia are probably the best team here, so we are happy with our performance. Tomorrow will be the same – a battle against Turkey, but we are ready.”
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