Arnhem, Netherlands, April 2, 2017. The 2017 CEV U18 Volleyball European Championship – Women adventure in Pool II continued with a dominating Belarus Team that confirmed their authority against a still winless Serbia. Another long match day came to an end, when Poland raised their tally to two victories and Slovenia celebrated their first hurrah in the tournament. 

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Serbia vs. Belarus

Belarus gained another three points with a 3-1 (25-20, 25-16, 22-25, 25-16) victory over the still winless Serbia. In the actual contest between two medal favourites, it was Serbia that struggled with a weak offence with just 34% of successful attacks. The winner also benefitted from a powerful trio composed of opposite Vera Kastsiuchyk (19 points), middle blocker Yuliya Kisliuk (15 points) and outside spiker Hanna Hryshkevich (13 points). Serbia are still waiting for their first #EuroVolleyU18W victory, while Belarus snatched their next three points.

Serbia coach Jovo Cakovic said his team struggled with bad reception: “As I have said yesterday. We have to improve our reception. We will never win a game if we continue to play that way. I am glad that we have the rest day tomorrow. My team need a restart for the last matches.”

Natallia Melianiuk, Belarus coach said: “I am happy that we could win the first two games. We are in a good mood and acted with a strong attack. We are one step closer to reaching our goal to finish in the top six of the competition and we will try to continue this streak on Tuesday.” 

Poland secured their next three points with a 3-1 (25-20, 25-12, 22-25, 25-22) victory over Romania that led them to the second place in Pool II in Arnhem. The loud Polish fans in Arnhem saw their team dominate the rallies in the first two sets. Both teams delivered a block party, with Poland leading the score board by one block (11-10) in the end. They also presented an attack inspired by their setter Gabriela Makarowska who found the right way to put her outside-spiker Zuzanna Gorecka (16 points) into the right position. The Polish girls were more resolute in looking for the final point and recovered quickly from the defeat in the third set. They upped the pressure as Romania started to sniffle on the equalizer and closed it with a wonderful spike.

Grzegorz Wagner, Poland coach said: “I think we made a step forward, but we have still problems to keep a huge lead. We lost our concentration at the wrong time, so I´m not satisfied with the whole match.”

The disappointed coach Istvan Zoltan Bokor said: “I know that we have high expectations on this team. But I also know that we can make it better compared to the current situation. I hope that we can find the right answer after our rest day.”

Slovenia convincingly defeat Greece 3-1 (25-12, 25-17, 22-25, 25-19) in the last game of the second match day at the European Championship. The Slovenian team easily scored in the beginning, where the Greece reception and attack produced too many mistakes to survive on this level. Slovenia´s defence played a key role in the last set, preventing a comeback of their opponents to clinch the win in the crunchtime.

Sebastjan Miksa, assistant coach of Slovenia reported: “They believed in themselves and executed all agreements we made before this match. The most important is that our girls have the confidence in their strengthen and that they can play and win against every team.”