Varna, Bulgaria, September 6, 2016.  Italy emerged as the first semifinalist of the 2016 CEV U20 Volleyball European Championship - Men. They had to come back twice from a set down against Turkey before claiming their fourth victory on the fourth competition day of the Final Round in Bulgaria – 3-2 (19-25, 25-21, 20-25, 25-21, 15-8). The other semi-finalist from Pool II will be determined on Wednesday in a direct battle between Turkey and Russia. The latter claimed a 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-20) win against Serbia and positioned themselves second in the current pool standings.  Earlier, the Czech Republic achieved their first victory of the tournament. Led by their best scorer Matej Smidl, the Czechs handed Belarus a 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-23) shutout in the first match of the day in Varna, and on Wednesday will try to qualify for Plovdiv in a direct duel with Serbia.

Belarus vs. Czech Republic 0-3 (23-25, 22-25, 18-25)

The Czech Republic made too many unforced errors in attack and Belarus managed to a have three-point advantage at the second technical time-out. After some substitutions, the Czechs started playing better to turn things around, and with a six-point contribution from opposite Matej Smidl won the opening set by 25-23.

The biggest problem for Czechia in the beginning of the second set was the easy mistakes and Belarus led by 16-14 at the second technical time-out. Matej Smidl continued to play pretty well in attack and after an ace by Martin Kop, the Czechs took a 19-18 lead. Martin Hudak scored another ace for 22-20 and Ivan Pelikan’s players did not have any further problems to close the set at 25-22.

Vladimir Mikulenka and Marek Sulc scored one-man kill blocks in the first minutes of the third set and Czechia led by 8-6 at the first technical time-out. The Czechs had full control on the court. They showed good defence in the long rallies and patience in offence when it was needed. On the other side of the net, the Belarusians were really nervous and made a lot of errors. Matej Smidl scored two aces in a row for 20-12 and from this moment until the end nobody could stop the Czech Republic from achieving their first victory in Varna - 25-18 in the third set and 3-0 in the match.

Matej Smidl outscored everybody with an impressive 25 points. Kiryl Kubar was Belarus’s top scorer with 12.

Kiryl Kapylou, player of Belarus: “I don’t know what to say. We were scared today and we didn’t show our best. Tomorrow against Italy we will try to play better and show our game.”

Petr Lazuka, player of Belarus: “It was a difficult match for us. We played badly and I think our biggest problem is psychological. Tomorrow it is our last match at this championship. We will play against Italy and we will fight for the last time in Varna.”

Uladzimir Maisiyevich, coach of Belarus: “We did not have international experience and this fact has its effect in the difficult moments. We missed our chances against Serbia, we missed our chances against the Czech Republic and we lost. Our problem is not technical or tactical. Our problem is psychological. I hope my players will grow after these matches and will be better in the future.”

Marek Sulc, player of Czech Republic: “It is great! We really wanted to achieve this victory and now we are happy. We need these three points because we want to qualify for the second phase in Plovdiv. We had a horrible match against Turkey, but yesterday we managed to regroup, take a rest and today we played much better. But maybe the most important match for us will be tomorrow against Serbia and I hope to win.”

Patrick Indra, player of Czech Republic: “The previous three matches here were hard for us. It is amazing that we managed to win one point against one of the best teams in Europe, Russia, and now we still have a chance to qualify for the second four in Plovdiv. Before this match today we knew that we must win. The game was really different. Belarus are a strong team with clever players. It was tough but we won and now we are happy. We should concentrate on our last match against Serbia, who are a stronger opponent. We must have good attack, defence and service, if we want to beat them. They have good outside spikers, but we should win if we want to achieve our goal.”

Adis Lagumdzija made the difference in the beginning of the match – four powerful serves, including two aces, one kill block and one counter-attack, gave Turkey a 16-11 lead. Berkay Bayraktar made a perfect block to maintain the advantage at 19-14. Adis Lagumdzija continued his impressive contribution in blocking for 22-17. With an ace for 25-19 to finish the set, Turkey made a dream start in this so important match.

Despite some untypical errors Italy started better in the second set and led by 17-13. The main weapon of Michele Totire’s players was the serve and the brilliant play in defence. Abdullah Cam and Adis Lagumdzija were just unstoppable in attack and after a one-man block and surprising attack by the setter Ogulcan Yatgin, Turkey was back in the game for the second set by 19-19. In the end, the Italian captain Gianluca Galassi reminded of his insidious float serve - good block, incredible defence, fewer errors and Italy won the second set by 25-21.

Both teams made some unforced errors in reception and attack but after two killing spikes from Cam and Lagumdzija Turkey led by 16-15 at the second technical time-out of the third set. Coach Mehmet Bedestenloglu subbed in the 16-year-old Batuhan Avci who made a clever attack in a key situation against a double block to give his team a really important three-point advantage at 21-18. The last rallies in the set belonged to the Turkish setter Ogulcan Yatgin – smart decision to give credit to his teammate Berkay Bayraktar in a difficult situation, another surprising spike in the middle and a block by himself gave Turkey the set at 25-20.

Paolo Zonca finished an amazing rally to bring Italy one point ahead at 13-12 in the fourth set. As if this moment gave an impulse to the Italian players, they won the next three points to lead by 16-12 at the second technical time-out. Immediately after the pause, Giulio Pinali scored an ace. At this point, it was only a matter of time for Italy to confidently win by 25-21.

In the beginning of the tie-break the Turkish setter Yatgin took sоme wrong decisions and Italy managed to use this to take a 3-0 lead. Bedestenloglu replaced him with captain Muzaffer Yönet. After powerful aces from Zonca and Pinali, Italy had a two-point advantage at the side switch and extended it further after that. After a perfect serve by setter Riccardo Sbertoli, Lagumdzija spiked off bounds and Italy won the set by 15-8.

Giulio Pinali topped the scorers’ chart of the match with 25 points for Italy. On the Turkish side, Abdullah Cam and Adis Lagumdzija scored 21 and 20, respectively.

Abdullah Cam, player of Turkey: “We fought against them. We could have won, but simple mistakes got us and we lost. I expect a big battle against Russia tomorrow. I think that our team will be ready. We will play well and I am confident that we will qualify for the next round.”

Adis Lagumdzija, player of Turkey: “It was a difficult match. We played almost the perfect first set with only two unforced errors. But in the second set we did not play on the same level and we lost it. In the third set we came back and we were 2-1 ahead. In the fourth set we made some mistakes. Our serve was not good and there were some questionable decisions by the referee. Our mentality was down. In the tie-break, after 7-9 something went wrong. I don’t know what. Our serve was missing and we lost in the end. Tomorrow we have a decisive match against Russia. I hope everyone on our team will be mentally ready to do our best and to win this match!”

Giulio Pinali, player of Italy and top scorer of the match: “I feel great! It was a really hard game. Turkey played really well, but we managed to stay focused and confident, to stay in the game and to win in the end. For me, the key was our defence and our blocking. After our last match here against Belarus we will think about Plovdiv. Gold medal? Everything is possible!”

Francesco Zoppellari, player of Italy: “Turkey played really well today. But we are also a very good team with a lot of good players and today everyone gave his contribution on the court to change the result and to win in the end. We already qualified for the semi-finals and this is really important, but tomorrow we have another match against Belarus. We must win this game to secure the first place in the pool. After that we will go to Plovdiv and we will see what happens.”

Serbia started the match better and after some unforced errors by the Russian players took a 15-10 lead. Like a real captain Konstantin Abaev inspired his teammates with five clever float serves in a row and their impressive work in blocking and spiking brought them to only a point behind at the second technical time-out. Russia’s libero Aleksei Chanchikov managed to save some really difficult situations. Dmitry Yakovlev was just unstoppable in attack (seven points including one ace) and Russia closed the opening set at 25-19.

In spite of the first set outcome, Serbia started better in the second and led by 17-15. The two teams continued to play level through 23-23. In the end two unforced errors decided the winner. Boris Busa spiked out for Russia’s last point - 25-23.

The beginning of the third set was for Russia – perfect work in defence, one ace from Ivan Piskarev and at the first technical time-out they had a two-point advantage. Mikhail Nikolaev’s players continued to have full control on the court – powerful serving, good blocking – and Russia comfortably won the third set by 25-20.

Serbia’s Boris Busa and Russia’s Dmitry Yakovlev became the best scorers of the game with 18 points each.

Miran Kujundzic, player of Serbia: “We made a good start and we played well, especially in the beginning of the first and in the second set. But after that we made some mistakes and we lost. Tomorrow is maybe our most important match against the Czech Republic. Our goal is to qualify for the next phase and to play for the fifth place, so we must win.”

Vladimir Vasovic, coach of Serbia: “It was a tough match against a great team. Russia are one of the favourites in our pool. They were really well organised in blocking and made us struggle. Tomorrow is our most important match. I hope to win and to qualify for the next round in Plovdiv.”

Dmitry Yakovlev, player of Russia: “We played well today. Our start to the match was not good, but after that we managed to play better and we won. Tomorrow it is a really important match against Turkey. We must win if we want to qualify for the next round.”

Konstantin Abaev, captain of Russia: “In the beginning of the first set our reception struggled and we had problems, but after that we played better and better. I am happy with our performance today. My teammate Yakovlev made the difference in the difficult situations. He had a really good match. Tomorrow we will play against Turkey, a good team with good players. It will be tough but I am confident that we will show our best and we will achieve our goal to qualify for the semifinals in Plovdiv.”

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