Plovdiv, Bulgaria, September 10, 2016. Turkey achieved their second victory in Plovdiv to finish fifth in the final standings at the 2016 CEV U20 Volleyball European Championship - Men. The Turks managed to turn things around against Germany and win the match by 3-1 (18-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-23). Before that, Serbia also finished on a high note beating Bulgaria to the seventh place. Coach Vladimir Vasovic’s squad claimed a 3-1 (20-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-21) victory over the home guys of his Bulgarian counterpart and namesake Vladimir Nikolov in their last match of the competition.
Click here for a live photo gallery from Plovdiv.
Bulgaria quickly took control of the first set and held on to it through the end – 25-20. In the second set both teams made excessive mistakes while the efficiency of the Bulgarian offence took a fall. The lead changed hands several times before a five-point run gave Serbia a 22-18 advantage. Bulgaria reacted to come back to a point behind, but in the end the set went Serbia’s way – 25-23. The Bulgarian spikers continued to struggle in the third set, but the blockers compensated for it with seven points. The Serbs stepped up their serving efforts and dominated for the most part of the set while Boris Busa chipped in with two aces and two blocks. Towards the end of the set Bulgaria scored seven consecutive points with Nikolay Manchev serving to bring his side from 16-22 to 23-22, but Serbia won the next three rallies and closed the set at 25-23. The Serbs took advantage of the many mistakes of the home team to maintain control of the scoreboard throughout the fourth set, despite Radoslav Parapunov’s nine points. Substitute Vukasin Durdevic spiked successfully for the last point to stamp Serbia’s victory at 25-21.
Radoslav Parapunov tallied 24 points (including five kill blocks) for Bulgaria to become the game’s best scorer. Boris Busa was most prolific on Serbia’s side with 21 points.
Vladimir Nikolov, coach of Bulgaria: "I do not know what happened. I have no idea why we crashed like this. In the first five games we played very good Volleyball, but in the last two matches we showed lack of character. This team can do much more."
Pavle Peric, player of Serbia: "We started the game too relaxed. The seventh place is not that great, but I think we won deservedly today."
Vladimir Vasovic, coach of Serbia: "We are happy that we won the seventh place. The match against Bulgaria was hard. I am pleased with the performance of my team."
Turkey vs. Germany 3-1 (18-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-23)
Johannes Tille scored three of the four aces that gave Germany the edge in the first set. The Germans took an early 4-0 lead and stayed in control through the end, which came at 25-18. The tables were turned for the second set where it was Turkey that established total domination on the court. With the help of four aces and with Abdullah Cam taking care of business in offence, the Turks had no problems closing it off at an impressive 25-15. This trend continued in set 3 and Turkey prevailed once again with the same convincing score – 25-15. The fourth set was the most competitive one in the match. With Egor Bogachev spearheading the offensive line, the Germans put their act together and were close to prompting a tie-breaker at a 22-19 lead. But Turkey made a five-point run with Abdullah Cam serving and managed to flip it over for 24-22 before #EuroVolleyU20M’s youngest player, Batuhan Avci, hammered the ball to the floor to shape up the final 25-23.
Abdullah Cam was the best scorer of the match with 22 points for Turkey, while Egor Bogachev led the German scorers with 13 markers.
Batuhan Avci, player of Turkey: “We did not finish in the place, which was our main goal before the tournament, but in the last two days we played well and achieved two wins. Now we will work harder to prepare for the next competitions. We will learn from the mistakes, which we made during this championship and we will improve. This tournament was for a generation of players two years older than me. I tried to do my best. Day by day I tried to improve and I am happy with my role in the team.”
Mehmet Bedestenloglu, coach of Turkey: “After Varna we achieved two wins and this is a good result. This is important because in Varna all matches were on higher level. We played against Russia, Italy, Serbia and even the Czech Republic were a better team than some of our opponents here. After a seven-hour trip to Plovdiv, yesterday all teams from Varna were in a difficult position and lost their matches except for us. Obviously this is a good result for us.”
Egor Bogachev, player of Germany: “Our mistakes in the fourth set deprived us of a tie-break. The organisation of the tournament was very good. We are happy that we were here.”
Johan Verstappen, coach of Germany: “We made a lot of mistakes at the end of the fourth set. Turkey made fewer mistakes than us and that is why they beat us. The sixth place is good for Germany. We need to work more in order to get among the best four.”
Engage with the U20 European Championship on social media by using the competition’s official hashtag #EuroVolleyU20M.
Click here for match schedule, all results, statistics, photo galleries and more...