Kraków, Poland, August 26, 2017. A 3-0 score suggests an easy victory but actually the Slovenians fought ferociously and it is due only to Russian experience that they won the clash of Group C leaders at the TAURON Arena 27-25, 30-28, 25-22. It was a similar story in the next match with Bulgaria coming through against Spain by the same scoreline after surviving a big scare in the 2nd set. Russia now top the group and are favourites to go straight through to the Quarter Finals while the places for the Playoffs will be decided when the teams return to the court on Monday.
Russia vs Slovenia
Slovenia stayed focused right from the start and took a two-point lead early on. Russia did not play on their usual level in block and attack, wasting far too many chances but when Ilia Vlasov entered the court he provided his team with much needed firepower and after levelling the score at 20 the Russians started to show some of their potential. They won three in a row and turned the score around from 22-24 to 25-24. It was just too hard to bear for Slovenia and Maksim Zhigalov’s ace ended the set at 27-25.
The next part of the match seemed to fortune Slovenia, as they stayed on top for a long time and with a considerable margin. Russia coach Shlyapnikov was forced to take a timeout when the deficit rose to four points (7-11) but it did not seem to provide his players with any solution. Nevertheless they finally started to struggle a little bit less and tied the score at 19s. Even though Russian recurrent problems with reception made it 22-20 in Slovenia’s favour, Kovač’s squad again could not close the set out at 24-22. Both teams exchanged hits with much vigour and eventually a single handed block by Vlasov secured a 30-28 victory for Russia and the teams headed into the 10-minute break.
The second set loss had a negative impact on the spirit of the Slovenians, as they trailed by a noticeable three points for most part of the third. They finally managed to tie it up at 17-all after Alen Pajenk’s ace and it was their serve that kept them alive. But Russia again showed some of their experience and managed to finish the game at 25-22, and 3-0. The winners in the crowd were definitely the growing group that have travelled over from Slovenia.
Maxim Mikhailov with 15 points and Tonček Štern with 14 led respectively Russia and Slovenia by topping the scoring.
Quotes
Slovenian coach Slobodan Kovač: “I’m satisfied with how we played, because we led twice 24-22. We did everything right but I think that in those hot moments of the game we just didn’t play with the heart. I felt that my players didn’t believe in this victory, which eventually made the difference.”
Slovenian middle-blocker Jan Kozamernik: “I think it was a loss of concentration, maybe we didn’t have that small amount of luck we needed to win one of the first two sets but I think a lot is positive in our game. In my opinion if we show it on the court in our next match it will be a good performance and Bulgaria will not stand a chance.”
Russian coach Sergey Shlyapnikov: “This game was extremely important. My team in the final part of every set played on a high level and showed its strength and character. We were capable of concentrating and playing well in the right moment. Everything seems so easy but today our opponent made it very hard for us. We don’t underestimate the Spaniards we will face on Monday. Everyone comes to the European Championship to fight for a win.”
Russian middle-blocker Ilia Vlasov: “We had to play on a very high level to win against such a strong opponent that we faced today – they are the defending silver medallists. We were a little bit intimidated but we eventually won and we hope to maintain that positive attitude on Monday against Spain.”
Bulgaria vs Spain
The second game of the evening featured the two losing teams from the first match day – Bulgaria and Spain, with the former managing to secure a 3-0 victory despite surviving some difficult moments in the 2nd set when they went from leading 10-3 to being multiple set points down.
The Spaniards played with heart at the beginning of the game, just as they did on Thursday against Slovenia. They raced back a couple of times but after the second technical break (12-16) they clearly did not know how to rise up again, with the Bulgarian block all over them. Nikolay Penchev’s attack made it 22-14 for Bulgaria and the Lions eventually finished the set, winning 25-15.
Bulgaria was on fire right from the start of the second set, winning the first four rallies and then getting an early 8-2 lead. They stayed far ahead for a while. However, then they appeared to run out of fuel and a point series by Spain made the deficit shrink from 5-11 to 9-11. Coach Plamen Konstantinow requested for a timeout as his team had none of its previous advantage, and the Spaniards tied the score up at 19 all. Fernando Muñoz’s squad didn’t stop there and actually had three set balls in a row with 24-21 on the scoreboard. Bulgaria shook off their idleness and scored a couple of points with a triple block, in the end closing it out at 28-26 with Todor Skrimov’s ace.
The Spaniards were not intimidated by the close loss and Bulgaria could not keep up to their standards so both teams exchanged hits through the third set. Another Skrimov’s ace let his team edge ahead to 21-17 and after a Bulgarian triple block the score was 24-18. The Spaniards fought to stay alive but their effort was just not enough as they lost 21-25.
Tsvetan Sokolov was the highest scoring player in this game with 18 points and Sergio Noda Blanco led the Spanish charts with 11 points.
Quotes
Plamen Konstantinov, Bulgarian coach: “I’m satisfied with how my team played today. I think they showed two faces; the good one until the half of the second set; then, like usually happens when everything is going pretty well, there came a moment in which my players thought that it was over. We needed to push until the end to win this second set but I’m happy that we didn’t let them come back, for Spain had nothing to lose and they are not a bad team.”
Todor Skrimov, Bulgarian outside hitter: “It’s never easy to play against a team like Spain because if you are not concentrated they can cause some trouble. That’s what happened today. In the first set we played well, in the second maybe a little worse. Then they started to play better and we had problems with it.”
Fernando Muñoz, Spanish coach: “Today I’m not happy, because my team didn’t play the kind of the game which I wanted. We could win the second set, but my players made too many mistakes. We can talk about the lack of experience of our team that made it difficult for us to close the second set.”
Jorge Fernandez Valcarcel, Spanish captain: “Bulgaria's players blocked and served very well in the first set. For us it was difficult. In the second set the level of our play went up. We had four or five set balls. I think we needed more experience to win this part of the match. After losing the second set, we couldn’t rise again.”
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