Szczecin, Poland, August 27, 2017.  On the second competition day of Pool B in Szczecin, Italy rebounded after their first leg loss at LOTTO EUROVOLLEY POLAND 2017 with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-20) victory over Slovakia to secure advancement to the elimination rounds in Katowice. Germany followed suit with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-20) win against the Czech Republic to take over the top of the current standings with two victories after Sunday’s late match at Azoty Arena.


Slovakia vs. Italy 0-3 (14-25, 19-25, 20-25)

Italy rushed into the first set with a 6-0 lead and never looked back. A phenomenally performing Luca Vettori made a fantastic behind-the-advertising-panels save to bring his team to set point. Soon after, Vettori’s kill block finished the job at 25-14.

The Italians won the second set as well, but this time the Slovaks made them work for it. Slovakia even gained control of the scoreboard between the two technical time-outs, but after 14-13 gave up their lead for good. Filippo Lanza played a perfect second set for Italy, but it was Oleg Antonov who flew in from the back row to hammer the ball onto the floor for 25-19.

Improving their spiking success, the Slovaks kept fighting in the third set, but were once again competitive only through 14-14. The more experienced Italian squad once again managed to break away before Antonov presented another brilliant finish to the spectators – an ace for 25-20 and 3-0!

With 15 points, including four aces, on his tally, Filippo Lanza topped the scorers. His Italian teammate Luca Vettori scored 13 times, while none of Slovakia’s players reached the double digits.



Peter Mlynarcik, player of Slovakia: "We had problems in reception. Italy’s serving caused us a lot of problems. A huge difference could be seen between these two teams, but the last set was OK. Now we have to concentrate on the match against Germany and play better than this evening."

Peter Ondrovic, player of Slovakia: "I do not know why the game started so badly for us. Later we were able to improve our reception and play some spectacular actions. The problem is that the Italians are a team that know how to play under pressure and they proved it today. They were better - not subject to discussion. Germany come next - a hard task for us."

Matteo Piano, player of Italy: "We won this match and this places us in a very good position in Pool B. But we will not rest on our laurels. The Czechs play well, and it will not be an easy match tomorrow. We hope that we will be playing again in front of such an incredible audience as we did today. We love the Polish fans! They give us a lot of support."

Luca Spirito, player of Italy: "There are no better or worse teams. This is the European Championship and every team came here to win. We have to keep our concentration during this tournament and play every match on a high level."




Czech Republic vs. Germany 0-3 (19-25, 14-25, 20-25)

It was 5-0 to Germany shortly after the match started. Although the German spikers dominated at the net, the Czech Republic managed to climb back up and tie it at 11-11. By the technical time-out the Germans were again three points ahead and did not let this lead slip away anymore. With a seven-point contribution from György Grozer, they finished the set at 25-19.

The Czechs won the first rally of the second set, but lost the next eight. Improving on both serving and blocking, coach Andrea Giani’s squad established total control on the court throughout the set and cruised to a comfortable 25-14 win.

As the Czech team raised their game in set 3, so did György Grozer. Well supported by his captain and setter Lukas Kampa, the German opposite was flying high, scoring as many as nine points, including the last one for 25-20 and 3-0.

With a total of 19 points, György Grozer was by far the best scorer of the match, the only one on either side of the net, reaching the double digits.



Michal Finger, player of Czech Republic: "The serving and the blocking of the Germans were crucial for this match. They played better in defence as well. In the third set we were able to make some good serves and block and in the meanwhile they lost some points due to several outs. That is why the result was much closer than in the previous sets."

Marek Beer, player of Czech Republic: "We made some stupid mistakes during this match. In the decisive moments the cold blood was missing. This match was totally different from the one with Slovakia. On Friday we were aware that that match was our ‘to be or not to be’ in the tournament, but today there was no pressure. We had nothing to lose, so we could take the risk."

Lukas Kampa, captain of Germany: "The next match with Slovakia is important for us, even if we know that we are already in the next phase of the tournament. We want to win this pool, so the pressure is still on. We have only 19 hours for recovery, which is the most important thing right now."

Julian Zenger, player of Germany (who turned 20 on Saturday): "It was the best birthday present I could get. Not only am I glad to be in the match roster, but above all because I managed to defend some balls and help the team. This way the victory tastes better. I was afraid of entering the game, but after the first balls I felt at home and it seems to me that it looked good."

Andrea Giani, coach of Germany: "I am really happy because today we delivered a solid performance in many elements. As for the results in individual sets, this is a secondary issue. I am primarily interested in the quality of our performance, and that was high."

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