Katowice, Poland, August 28, 2017. Undefeated Belgium secure winning position in pool D and advance to the quarterfinal phase at LOTTO EUROVOLLEY 2017. Vital Heynen’s crew took their third victory beating The Netherlands 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-21)

France and Turkey battled for the second spot in pool D, knowing already that their stay in the tournament was secured. Laurent Tillie and his players defeated Turkey 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-22). 

The schedule for the Playoffs has been confirmed as:

   - Katowice 17:30 ITA vs TUR / 20:30 FRA vs CZE
   - Krakow: 17:30 BUL vs FIN / 20:30 POL vs SLO

Belgium vs. The Netherlands 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-21)

While Belgium dealt with the pressure of keeping the leadership in pool D and a straight ticket to the quarterfinal phase, The Netherlands faced a do or die situation on the last day of the pool phase. The Dutch team hit hard since the first moments, taking the lead at 3-0. Well played defence allowed both sides to perform long rallies, but The Netherlands kept a three-point lead at the first technical time out after Nimir Abdel-Aziz’s spike. The advantage was kept until the second technical time-out, but with an efficient block performed by Simon Van de Voorde, Bram Van den Dries and Tomas Rousseaux followed by an ace, Belgium managed to catch up at 18-18. Their performance kept improving, allowing to finish the first set 25-21 with Van den Dries’s spike. 

An ace played by Thomas Koelewijn followed by an efficient spike of Jeroen Rauwerdink pushed The Netherlands 6-2 ahead at the beginning of the second set. As the lead was sustained until 10-6, at that moment Belgium’s middle-blocker Pieter Verhees sustained an ankle injury and was forced to leave the court. Arno Van de Velde stepped in and his performance in block and attack equalised the score at 11-11. After Sam Deroo’s ace, it was Belgium who were 12-11 ahead. A well played block and defence put Belgium 20-17 ahead and the Red Dragons eventually won the set at 25-21. 

Belgium quickly responded to the Dutch team’s initial powerful beginning and reduced their lead, going ahead before the first technical time-out of the third set. Being with one foot in the quarter-finals, the Red Dragons used every possibility of winning in three sets. Despite the Netherlands’ trials of rebuilding the spirit, a small lead remained on the Belgian side. Confident Belgium folded up for the final score 25-21, sending The Netherlands back home.

Quotes

Vital Heynen, Belgium coach: “At the moment I can’t yet realise that we are already qualified for the quarterfinals. We played very well and a stable game today. I changed players throughout the match, my athletes played like one team and the guys from the bench made the difference, allowing us to qualify to the quarterfinals.” 

Sam Deroo, Belgium captain: “The start of this match was not easy. The Netherlands played really aggressive and really well, just like they did yesterday, when they played against France. As the match progressed, we showed our quality and in the decisive moments we were able to act as a team.” 

Gido Vermeulen, The Netherlands coach: “I think we have a very good young team, but we don’t have a lot of experience playing #EuroVolleyM, so this was a good experience for my players. We have to learn from our mistakes and make it better next time.”

Jasper Diefenbach, The Netherlands captain: “I think we played well up until the second set when we lost our four-point lead. We were unable to score points and repeatedly kept losing points in series. We finish fourth in the pool and it’s very disappointing for us.”

France vs. Turkey 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-22)

A triple block of Stephen Boyer, Kevin Le Roux and Thibault Rossard gave France an early lead at 4-2, which was further sustained until the first technical time-out. Turkey’s mistake followed by efficient spikes of French players extended the lead to four points (13-9). Turkey tried to catch up before the sixteenth point, using the mistakes of their opponents, but a long service by Baturalp Burak Güngör put an end to that chase. It was Mert Matic’s kill that pushed Turkey to tie at 17-17. Both teams continued with an even exchange of points until Julien Lyneel’s spike gave his team the first set at 25-23. 
 
France quickly built a three-point lead after Le Roux’s performance at the service line (4-1). Turkey tried to take advantage of the well playing Metin Toy and France’s errors, but their efforts were soon stopped by Lyneel’s kill that put France ahead 8-6. Arslan Ekşi served an ace, followed by Güngör’s spike giving Turkey their first lead at 11-10. The second part of the set brought long rallies, creating a really impressive spectacle for fans gathered in Spodek Arena. The balanced duel was eventually broken by France at 25-23. 

France kept control over the third set since its early stages, stopping at the first technical time out with a three-point lead. Despite Turkey’s tries, the French managed to stay two steps ahead throughout the set. At 22-20, Josko Milenkoski called a time-out to bring new energy into his team’s performance. The break seemed to give a short term effect as Gökhan Gökgöz’s ace contributed to a tie at 22-22. Nonetheless, it was France who won 25-22 after Metin Toy’s long spike. 

Quotes

Laurent Tillie, France coach: “We fought for the second place in the pool. I had to make a lot of changes and I appreciate a lot that the game my substitutes played was very interesting. We had a bit of relief entering this match and knowing we will be in the next round regardless of the result, but now we step up to a completely different level and every match will be a do or die situation for both sides of the net.”

Thibault Rossard, France outside hitter: “It is really nice to win in straight sets for a change and claim second place in Pool D this way. All the sets were really dynamic and quite balanced, fortunately we managed to stay ahead in those tight last moments of each set.”

Josko Milenkoski, Turkey coach: “It was quite an easy match for both teams, because we knew that we are already qualified for the play-off round. That is why it was a match without pressure more like a friendly match and not an official one. I wanted to make more substitutions in order to check the other players and give them an opportunity to show themselves in this match.”

Arslan Ekşi, Turkey captain: “For us yesterday's match was so dramatic and at the end we were very disappointed. Today we tried to win against France, but simultaneously we did not want to drain physically all of our players. We already know that in the next game we will play against Italy and I am convinced that we can win if we will play like we did against Belgium and the Netherlands. We respect our opponent as we know that they are the reigning Olympic silver medallists, but they are missing a few key players. We started our preparation to this tournament at the beginning of the summer. Our first goal was to fight and now that we did that, the second one is to qualify to the quarterfinals, which means we want to try and beat Italy.”

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