Plovdiv, Bulgaria, September 4, 2016. With six aces from Oleh Plotnytskyi, Ukraine mastered a 3-0 (25-18, 25-11, 25-19) shutout of Slovenia to open the third competition day at the Final Round of the 2016 CEV U20 Volleyball European Championship - Men in Plovdiv. The home fans once again created a fantastic atmosphere at the Kolodruma hall and were pleased to see another Bulgarian victory - 3-2 (25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 19-25, 15-10) against France. Poland made sure they recorded their third win at the tournament. With a 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-17) victory over Germany, last year’s U19 European champions have now secured their spot among the best eight teams of this year’s competition.
Slovenia started well, but could not hold on to the four-point lead they had at 9-5. With improved efforts on all counts, the Ukrainians caught up at 12-12. After 16-16, they made a 7-1 run for 23-17. Moments later, with points from sand partners and silver medallists from the 2015 CEV U18 Beach Volleyball European Championship Dmytro Viietskyi and Timofii Poluian, Ukraine closed it off at 25-18.
With Andrii Rohozhyn spearheading the Ukrainian blockers, the second set was completely one-sided. Ukraine broke away with a 6-1 lead and never looked back. With a total of six kill blocks and a seven-point run from 18-11, the eastern European team claimed the set with an impressive 25-11.
Jure Okroglic’s good performance helped Slovenia stay in contention through 19-18 in the third set. But after the score was levelled at 19-19 it was time for another internationally known Ukrainian beach volleyballer, Oleh Plotnytskyi, to take his turn from the serving line. He started off with an ace, continued to give Slovenia’s reception a very hard time and then finished the job off with two more aces in a row for 25-19.
Plotnytskyi hammered as many as six aces in the game for a total of 15 points, which made him the top scorer of the match. His teammate Dmytro Viietskyi chipped in with three aces for a total of 14 points, while Jure Okroglic was Slovenia’s most prolific player with 13 points.
Heorhii Klepko, player of Ukraine: “We did not allow the mistakes of yesterday. Today we did everything right and deservedly won. We lost to Slovenia in the qualifications and now we had to beat them.”
Mykola Pasazhin, coach of Ukraine: “This was a very good game and a very good win. Today we did everything well in our game - blocking, attacking and receiving. I am very happy for my team.”
Primoz Mejal, player of Slovenia: “Ukraine were very good today. Oleh Plotnytskyi was just incredible. We made a lot of mistakes in serving. I hope in the next two matches we show a good game.”
Samo Miklavc, coach of Slovenia: “We had problems with our service and we did not manage to keep the balance in our team. We hope we are going to play better in the next match.”
Thanks to their good performance in blocking and offence, Bulgaria were in the lead through the most part of the first set, but France took advantage of the many mistakes on the home team’s side to stay close behind and catch up on several occasions. They even took a momentary 17-15 lead, which was quickly cancelled by the Bulgarians. The French saved the first two set points, but on the third one, Radoslav Parapunov’s block-out fixed the outcome at 25-23.
The last time Bulgaria had the lead in the second set was at 5-4. The improved French reception allowed setter Léo Meyer to spread out the attacks, and in the end of the set it was his impressive block that put the ball on the floor for 25-22.
Bulgaria were struggling in the middle part of the third set, so coach Vladimir Nikolov undertook a change of opposites, but it was middle blocker Gordan Lyutskanov who got really fired up to help his team turn things around. France were very prolific in spiking, but also in committing errors. Bulgaria’s captain Plamen Shekerdzhiev showed character in the last rally and found his way to blast a spike for 25-23.
The home side was in control for most of the first half of the fourth set, but the French blockers made the difference to change the course. With a series of five points France flipped the score from 9-11 to 14-11 and did not waste the momentum. In the conclusive moments they widened the gap even further to close the set at 25-19.
Inspired by the fantastic fans, who did not give up faith, but maybe also by the courtside appearance of the men’s national team coach Plamen Konstantinov, the young Lions started well in the fifth set. An almost impossible save that was converted to a point for 5-2 served as an additional morale booster for the Bulgarians. With their captain Shekerdzhiev on fire and contributing as many as seven points, they managed not only to hold on to their advantage, but also to extend it to the final 15-10, shaped up with a powerful hit by Tsvetelin Tsvetanov.
Shekerdzhiev ended up with a total of 22 points to become the best scorer of the match. Joachim Panou with 18 points was the biggest contributor to France’s tally.
Radoslav Parapunov, player of Bulgaria: “France always play well, but we managed to take the edge. We will keep working hard in order to go through to the next round.”
Vladimir Nikolov, coach of Bulgaria: “It is very hard to play against France because they have a specific technique and always play with passion and emotion. But we did our job and fortunately we won two points today.”
Barthelemy Chinenyeze, captain of France: “The Bulgarian audience helped them win indeed, especially at the end.”
Jocelyn Trillon, coach of France: “It was difficult for us to play in this atmosphere. We will try to concentrate for the next match and to finally win.”
Germany vs. Poland 0-3 (16-25, 20-25, 17-25)
Germany had a fragile control on the scoreboard at the beginning of the first set, but after 10-12 Poland took over. Stepping up their blocking and spiking efforts, the Poles broke away with a five-point run and never looked back – 25-16.
The Germans improved their overall performance in the second set, but not in reception. Once again, they opened a small early lead at 3-1, but could not hold on to it for long. At 5-4 was the last time they were in the lead. Bartosz Kwolek continued playing well to help his team establish control. He was in the good company of Tomasz Fornal, who finished the set with a clever tip over the block for 25-20.
With a 6-0 start of the third set, Poland were already cruising towards a speedy victory. They continued to dominate comfortably on the court and although Germany saved four of Poland’s match points in the end, there was plenty to spare. Finally, Kwolek attacked from the back row to put an end to this game at 25-17.
Kwolek was the top scorer of the match with 17 points. His teammates Tomasz Fornal and Jakub Ziobrowski added 14 each, while Egor Bogachev was Germany’s most prolific player with 11.
Egor Bogachev, player of Germany: “I think it was a tough match. We did not perform very well. In some moments we played well, but it was not enough. We look forward to the next match.”
Johan Verstappen, coach of Germany: “Poland were too good today. Their service was wonderful. We fought to the last and this is what I liked about my team today. We look forward to our next game against Bulgaria.”
Jakub Kochanowski, captain of Poland: “I think we need one more match to win by 3-0 to be sure of first place in our group. We were better in everything today. We have a very good chance to win this tournament.”
Sebastian Pawlik, coach of Poland: “Our play is getting better and better with every day. This is very good for us. We played very well in blocking.”
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