Győr, Hungary, April 29, 2017.  After the four semifinalists - Russia, Turkey, Italy and the Czech Republic – the teams of Poland and France filled the two remaining European spots at the FIVB Volleyball Boys U19 World Championship. In the earlier semifinal in the race for the fifth place on the penultimate competition day at the Final Round of the 2017 CEV U19 Volleyball European Championship - Men, the Poles claimed a 3-1 (17-25, 27-25, 25-16, 25-21) victory over Finland and booked their tickets to Bahrain 2017 in August. After that, France followed suit and came back from a set down to hand Belgium a 3-1 (21-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-23) defeat on the way to the World Championship. The noisy fans from Finland, Belgium and France created a great ambiance at the Szechenyi Istvan University hall in Győr for these two crucial games.


Poland vs. Finland 3-1 (17-25, 27-25, 25-16, 25-21)

Poland started well taking an early three-point lead. Putting a lot of precision into their game, the Finns quickly came back to take complete control on the court towards the 25-17 close, which came with an elegant tip by Oskari Keskinen for the last point. The second set was a really tight battle. Keskinen continued to be on fire at the net, but so was Filip Grygiel. The Finns were the first to reach set point, but five rallies down the road it was a kill block by Grygiel on Keskinen that shaped up the 27-25 Polish win. Grygiel went on with his great spiking effort in the next two sets. The Polish blockers also stepped up their performance on the way to a convincing 25-16 final score in set 3, and in set 4 the three aces by coach Maciej Zendel’s players contributed to the 25-21 win, which put an end to the game. Filip Grygiel was by far the best scorer of the match, tallying a fantastic 28 points in Poland’s account. Niko Suihkonen was Finland’s top scorer with 19 points.

Szymon Jezierski, captain of Poland: "The beginning of the match was terrible and we lost the first set. We did not give up. We were fighting for the points. We won and that counts now. We really wanted to qualify for the World Championship."

Maciej Zendel, coach of Poland: "We are really happy that we qualified for the World Championship. It was our goal. Today we did not play very well, but I am glad it was enough for the win."

Anton Välimaa, captain of Finland: "It was a difficult game and we played well in general. Unfortunately, we made mistakes at critical points and, after the first set, we could not control the game."

Pertti Honkanen, coach of Finland: "My opinion is that this match was very tough. Both teams wanted to use the other team's weaknesses. The key point was the end of the second set when we had a set point and we lost it. After that, the boys could not concentrate so much anymore."


Belgium vs. France 1-3 (25-21, 16-25, 21-25, 23-25)

France were in the lead through most of the first set, but with a tremendous spiking effort the Belgians stepped up in the money time. A powerful kill block by Berre Peters finished the set at 25-21 Belgium’s way. With Célestin Cardin on fire in the second set, the French dominated all through before Remi Bassereau closed it off at 25-16 with a block-out. France’s blocking (seven kill blocks) improved even further in the third set and they cruised to a 25-21 win to take the lead in the match. Bassereau spear-headed the French attack in the fourth set, which was the most competitive one of the match. The Belgians fought to the end, but Bassereau’s powerful hit put the ball on the floor for 25-23 on second match point. Remi Bassereau and Célestin Cardin topped the scorers’ chart of the match with 27 and 23 points, respectively. Berre Peters was Belgium’s most prolific player with 16 points.

Matthieu Vanneste, captain of Belgium: "We started well in the first set, but from the second set France took control of the game. They played well and we could not find an answer to them. I am a bit disappointed that we could not qualify for the World Championship, but we keep up the spirit."

Mieke Moyaert, coach of Belgium: "We played against a very strong team. They have a great physical power. This time we did not play very well against this strong opponent."

Luca Ramon, player of France: "We knew it was an important match and we wanted to play well. I am proud of my team, we did a good job and we do not feel bad about losing the first set. We qualified for the World Championship!"

Slimane Belmadi, coach of France: "The team had a fighting spirit. We really wanted to qualify for the World Championship. We prepared very well for this match. The boys followed the instructions. It is a big thing for them to go to the World Championship."


All matches of the tournament are scheduled for live streaming on LAOLA1.tv.

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