Plovdiv, Bulgaria, September 6, 2016. Poland, Bulgaria and Ukraine are the three Pool I teams that are still in contention for the semifinal spots at the 2016 CEV U20 Volleyball European Championship - Men before the last competition day of the pool stage. With another incredible performance by Oleh Plotnytskyi and his teammates, Ukraine mastered a 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 26-24) win against France to send their opponents packing even before their last match on Wednesday. Thousands of spectators flocked to the Kolodruma in Plovdiv on Bulgaria’s Unification Day to support the home team, which in turn responded with a spectacular 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-17) victory over Germany. In spite of this loss, the Germans secured their advancement into the battles for the fifth place after Slovenia lost the third Pool I match of the day to the still undefeated team of Poland by 1-3 (16-25, 25-23, 19-25, 19-25).
As soon as Oleh Plotnytskyi came to the serving line Ukraine broke away with a 6-1 lead in the first set, with Plotnytskyi contributing three aces. Later on in the set, his teammates Dmytro Viietskyi and Andrii Rohozhyn chipped in three more aces to make playing against France look easy. The Ukrainians cruised on to win the opening set by a landslide 25-15.
The story of the second set was not much different. Four aces by high-flying Plotnytskyi, with Viietskyi spearheading Ukraine’s offensive line, gave their team the edge it needed for 25-19.
France scored the first point in the third set and this was the only time during the whole match they were in the lead. Ukraine could not put up another ace show in this set, but, with Viietskyi and Rohozhyn on fire, their attackers were very prolific and gave the team a 19-12 lead. At this point France finally managed to organize their game better and levelled the score at 22-22. They saved the first two match points for Ukraine after 22-24 to level it again, but at the third one Plotnytskyi was merciless in attack and stopped the clocks at 26-24.
Dmytro Viietskyi was the best scorer of the match with 18 points for Ukraine. His teammate Oleh Plotnytskyi built upon his seven aces for a total of 15 points, while none of the French scorers reached the double digits.
Barthelemy Chinenyeze, captain of France: "We did not play well. We could have served better. We could improve our reception. We need to finish the sets better. We did not give our best today."
Jocelyn Trillon, coach of France: "We did not fight. We started very badly. We lost concentration and did not serve well. You cannot achieve a high level, if you are not concentrated and do not fight."
Heorhii Klepko, player of Ukraine: "I did not know what was happening. Oleh Plotnytskyi served like a god - seven aces. I think we need to play the same way against Germany to advance to the semis."
Mykola Pasazhin, coach of Ukraine: "I congratulate the boys for the way they played. They showed character and skills. We need to win against Germany to reach the semi-finals. Our team fought bravely today and worked well in blocking."
Germany vs. Bulgaria 0-3 (23-25, 17-25, 17-25)
After a balanced first half of the first set, Bulgaria made a four-point run for 16-11. With setter Nikolay Manchev showing his magic and Plamen Shekerdzhiev and Radoslav Parapunov converting it to points, the lead was extended to 20-14. However, Germany did not give up as Egor Bogachev was at 100% in attack. They managed to catch up at 21-21, but this was as much as they could achieve in this set. With a kill block and a successful spike, captain Shekerdzhiev scored the last two points for his team to shape up the 25-23 win.
The second set was quite one-sided. Inspired by the numerous home fans on the stands, the young Bulgarians established their total domination on the court. Substitute Martin Pavlov, who had come into play at the end of the previous set, gave his solid contribution in offence before Gordan Lyutskanov’s powerful smash through the middle closed it off at 25-17.
The young Lions kept the momentum in the third set and broke away with a 17-8 lead. But then they had to deal with a seven-point German run with Moritz Rauber serving, which brought the opponents very close behind at 17-15. Still, the home side regained control soon after that and broke away again. Bulgaria’s captain Shekerdzhiev put the ball on the floor for the last point, 25-17, and the stands erupted with yet another reason to party on Unification Day.
Shekerdzhiev and Parapunov shared the best scorer honours with 15 points each. Egor Bogachev was Germany’s most prolific player with 10 points.
Maximilian Auste, captain of Germany: "We lost to a strong opponent. We did not use our chances. The atmosphere also had an impact on us. This was something new to our team."
Johan Verstappen, coach of Germany: "We missed our chances in the first set. We did everything we could, but lost because our opponent was better. We hope to play better in our next game."
Radoslav Parapunov, player of Bulgaria and one of the top scorers of the match: "I am very glad about how we played. We managed to outplay their block. Poland have a very strong team. We hope to win against them. We will do our best."
Plamen Shekerdzhiev, captain of Bulgaria and one of the top scorers of the match: "It was our easiest game. We made no mistakes. I think we did well. We neutralised their block. We expect to win against Poland."
Vladimir Nikolov, coach of Bulgaria: "We were very disciplined. We did what we had to in order to win. We deserved the victory. My players will learn with time that the Germans are very strong opponents. We won because we were better, not because we are the hosts."
Poland vs. Slovenia 3-1 (25-16, 23-25, 25-19, 25-19)
In the first set Poland outplayed Slovenia on all counts, never allowing the opponents to take the lead. Bartosz Kwolek contributed as many as seven points to his team’s 25-16 win.
Poland’s momentum flowed into the second set and they opened a gap as wide as five points at 12-7 and 14-9. It was too soon for them to relax on the court, but they did. The Poles started committing way too many unforced errors, while the Slovenes stepped up the pressure. They caught up at 15-15 and moments later found themselves in the lead. Poland levelled it momentarily at 23-23, but the next two rallies were for Slovenia and they tied the match with a 25-23 win.
This outcome gave the Slovenes the confidence that they could go for their first victory in Plovdiv and they continued putting up a tough fight in the third set. Slovenia took an early 3-0 lead and Poland struggled to catch up until 8-8. After 13-13, the Poles took the lead for good extending it to 25-19 by the end of the set.
Still, the Slovenes would not give up. They kept it competitive through 10-10 in the fourth set. But the Poles did not want to waste any more time. After 14-13 in their favour, coach Sebastian Pawlik’s team scored four in a row to gain a comfortable 18-13 advantage and confidently cruised towards another 25-19 at the end of the set.
Bartosz Kwolek crowned his good performance in this match with a spike for the last point, which brought his final tally to 22. Poland’s middle blocker Jakub Kochanowski also had a great day and finished second on the scorers’ chart with 15 points, followed by teammate and namesake Jakub Ziobrowski with 13 and Slovenia’s Jure Okroglic with 12.
Jakub Kochanowski, captain of Poland: "If we want to play in the semi-finals we have to win against Bulgaria tomorrow. It will be a really hard match, because we are in Bulgaria. If we want to win, we have to show our full capabilities, because we did not play so well today."
Sebastian Pawlik, coach of Poland: "We must win against Bulgaria to qualify. We were not concentrated enough today. It was a difficult match, because we were in a must-win situation, while they played for nothing. So I am happy that we won."
Jure Okroglic, captain of Slovenia: "We played better that we did in the previous days. I hope we go home with one win – against France tomorrow."
Samo Miklavc, coach of Slovenia: "Today we played very well. Poland’s team is a very hard opponent. I am happy that we showed a good performance in serving and attacking. We are happy to have won one set against the favourites at this championship. We hope to show a better game against France tomorrow."
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