26/09/2017 18:38
Belarus equal best ever #EuroVolleyW result with come-from-behind win over Czechs
2017 CEV Volleyball European Championship - Women
Baku, Azerbaijan, September 26, 2017. Belarus made history on Tuesday afternoon as they secured a spot in the quarterfinals of the 2017 women’s EuroVolley – thus making it among the top eight in Europe for the first time since 1995. However, that did not happen without drama as the Czech Republic claimed a 2-0 lead in the match and were only two points away from a straight-sets win before Belarus came back strong (18-25, 23-25, 27-25, 25-22, 17-15) to book their ticket to the next phase of the tournament where they will be playing Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallists Serbia. An interesting fact: Belarus won the match, even though they scored fewer points than the Czechs did (110 vs. 112).
Belarus and the Czech Republic had travelled to Baku after finishing second and third respectively in their respective pools contested in Tbilisi and Ganja/Göygöl – and this meant they were taking for the first time to the court of the iconic National Gymnastics Arena in Azerbaijan’s capital.
The Czech Republic had progressed to the Playoff stage of the 2017 women’s EuroVolley following their fairly surprising victory over Belgium’s Yellow Tigers – and they seemed to have adjusted quite quickly to the conditions in Baku as they rallied to an early 12-7 lead. Their star players Helena Havelkova and Aneta Kocmanova Havlickova found much support from the younger members of the team (16-10) before Belarus responded with their top scorer in the tournament so far, 192cm tall middle blocker Anzhelika Barysevich, reducing the deficit down to three points (19-16). However, the Czechs fully controlled the final stages of the set – eventually securing a 25-18 win after Anastasiya Harelik of Belarus spiked out of bounds.
The match featured two teams representing two seasoned Volleyball schools – with the Czech Republic and Belarus inheriting quite much of the knowledge and tradition boasted by the former Czechoslovakia and Soviet Union and as a result, it inevitably turned into a close fight. The Czechs made up for a slow start to the second set (3-6) to claim a small edge after the first technical break (11-9). Mistakes were actually quite common throughout the set but the Czechs were able to show a little more consistency to double their lead in the match following a nice poke by Havelkova (25-23).
At this stage, Belarus were probably hoping they would repeat what they had done when coming back from two sets down to record a 3-2 victory over Croatia in their first match in Pool B back in Tbilisi. However, they soon trailed 1-3 in the third set and even though they put up a fight, the players coached by Piotr Khilko seemed to struggle to find their best game. The intensity and quality of the match did nevertheless grow with the time, especially since Belarus were with their back against the wall and had no other option than to fight back to stay alive in the competition. The Czechs claimed a small edge (19-17) following yet another mistake by Belarus but their opponents responded by scoring six in a row. Havlickova stopped that negative series to initiate a 3-0 run for her side – but Barysevich helped Belarus secure two set points. Havlickova scored the next couple of points to make it 24-all, before Belarus were successful at their third attempt to cut their deficit in the match (27-25).
The Czechs somehow felt the consequences of this setback as they chased Belarus for most of the fourth before coming back strong to lead 20-18 and 22-20, but Belarus always found a way to stay in contention – and eventually edged ahead with two consecutive aces by Nadzeya Smirnova (Malasai), before completing their comeback as Tatsiana Markevich spiked for 25-22.
Driven by the enthusiasm resulting from the previous set wins, Belarus opened the tiebreak with a 7-4 run and maintained a three-point advantage at the side switch. Still, Belarus were unable to capitalise on a 9-5 as the Czechs fought back to level the score at 10-all. Belarus claimed two match balls after winning a challenge on a spike by Barysevich, which the referee had called out, Andrea Kossanyiova cancelled the first one – and Havelkova did just the same with the second after a poor reception by Belarus. The players in red shirts regrouped and Markevich finished it all off at 17-15 to secure her team’s spot in the quarterfinals.
Quotes
Piotr Khilko, head coach of Belarus: “We are very happy since this is the first time in the history of the European Championship that Belarus have progressed to the quarterfinals. The team started badly against the Czech Republic, made quite some mistakes and as a result, I decided to change our tactics. Anastasiya Harelik moved to the opposite position and she played really well. She somehow turned into our ‘secret weapon’ but we have other surprises ready for the next opponent. Serbia await us in the quarterfinals and of course, our opponent is the favourite. However, if we play with courage, everything is possible.”
Volha Palcheuskaya, player of Belarus: “It was one of the most dramatic matches of my career. We fought for every ball. After losing two sets, our team had just one option – to win three in a row. We did it. I want to say thank you to all members of the team, to our coach and to the fans for their support. Now we start preparing for the match against Serbia and we want show our best Volleyball in the quarterfinals.”
Zdenek Pommer, head coach of the Czech Republic: “It is a big disappointment for me, since we started very well, but we could not keep it up. We did not push it enough. Even though we started badly in the fourth set, we made up for it in the middle part for a close finish and the tiebreaker is always an open case. We made some mistakes and the opponents had a chance to catch their breath and come back.”
Barbora Purchartova, player of the Czech Republic: “I really do not know what happened in the third set. We had a bad start into set four, lost many points and were not lucky in the end while Belarus did their job and won the set. After that, they were leading all the time. We are very disappointed, especially as they were a playable opponent whom we won against many times.”
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