Győr, Hungary, April 30, 2017. Overcoming the sorrow from losing the semifinals on the previous day, the teams of Turkey and Russia put on a titanic five-set battle for the bronze medals of the 2017 CEV U19 Volleyball European Championship - Men. On Sunday afternoon in Győr, coach Ali Ümit Hizal’s squad persevered to emerge victorious with a 3-2 (25-22, 21-25, 24-26, 25-17, 15-13) win to secure a spot on the podium and rejoice with the bronze.


Russia vs. Turkey 2-3 (22-25, 25-21, 26-24, 17-25, 13-15)

With a great all-round performance by outside hitter Batuhan Avci and powerful opposite Adis Lagumdzija spear-heading the offensive line, both well supported by setter Onur Soydan, Turkey dominated the first set towards a 25-22 win. With Lagumdzija and Russia’s outside spiker Ivan Kuznetcov and middle blocker Vitalii Dikarev all on fire in attack, the second set was very tight and levelled for the most part. In the end Russia managed to increase the pressure to close it at 25-21 in their favour. In a similar fashion, in the third set Turkey were trying to hold on to a small advantage, but in the end Russia, which took more chances, committed more errors, but balanced it off with prolific spiking, persevered to emerge with a 26-24 win. Lagumdzija scored six points in six attempts in attack and added two kill blocks to his tally to lead his team to an impressive 25-17 win in the fourth set. The adrenalin was so high in the tie-breaker one could feel it from the stands. The score was very tight throughout the decisive set with Lagumdzija continuing to hit mercilessly in an effort to safeguard his team’s small lead. In the end middle blocker Batuhan Karaca aced for 15-13 to send Turkey celebrating with the bronze.

Adis Lagumdzija finished the match with a fiery 32 points for Turkey, followed by his teammate Batuhan Avci with 23. Ivan Kuznetcov was Russia’s best scorer with 16 points. 

Ivan Kuznetcov, player of Russia: "Today was not our day. We made the mistake yesterday when we lost the match against the Czech Republic. I believe we could have won that match. It is hard to talk about my feelings now. Hopefully, we learn from this lesson."

Aleksei Kovalchuk, player of Russia: "We really wanted to win the bronze medal. We came here for a medal, so now we are very disappointed. The team played with several errors and although we fought hard, something was missing."

Onur Çukur, captain of Turkey: "It was a very good and hard game. We won. It is an amazing feeling for us. The team was moving together very well. We were hoping for this medal. We are looking forward to playing at the World Championship."

Ali Ümit Hizal, coach of Turkey: "Yesterday we lost the game against Italy. We corrected that with this win. We are thankful for this victory, but our goals are higher, so we do not stop. It was a very good preparation for the World Championship."


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