Arnhem, Netherlands, April 4, 2017. The third match day in Pool II brought out the next overwhelming victory for Belarus, who now need just one more win to secure a ticket to the semi-finals of the 2017 CEV U18 Volleyball European Championship – Women. However, the standings behind them promise a remarkable finish, when the preliminary round will come to an end on Thursday. Just three points separate the teams from Poland (2nd), Romania (3rd), Serbia (4th) and Slovenia (5th).
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Poland vs. Serbia
Serbia made an important step at the #EuroVolleyU18W and defeated their competitors from Poland 3-1 (25-7, 20-25, 25-14, 25-21). It was the first success for the Serbian team that gives them still the chance to qualify for the semi-finals. The match started with a huge blow-up for the Polish girls who had earned two consecutive wins in their first matches. The Serbians almost scored more than half of their attacks (53%), while the Polish team had a horrible offensive success rate with 17%. Despite an increasing attack efficiency (29%, 30% and 48%) in the following sets, Poland did never enough to trouble the reception of their opponents, who showed they were able to bounce back after the rest day. Serbia’s emotional leader and outside spiker Jovana Mirosavljevic scored 16 points and was the best player of the game.
Serbia coach Jovo Cakovic was proud of his players: “It was a surprising result. I think that Poland were the favourite, but that was the Serbian team I wanted to see at the European Championship from the beginning. We made a great progress in attack and reception. I hope that we can keep this level to win also the next matches.’’
Belarus vs. Slovenia
The pool leaders and still undefeated Belarus are on their way to claiming a spot in the #EuroVolleyU18W semi-finals after they celebrated a 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-12, 25-15) win over Slovenia. The Belarusian team grabbed an early 1-0 set lead but Slovenia reacted strongly to level the match. However, the Belarus girls profited from a great performance of opposite and top-scorer Vera Kastsiuchyk, who recorded 14 points and a superb success rate (60%, 9/15) in attack. Her points combined with nine blocks outlined the Belarusian advantage in the third and fourth set. However, the difference was mostly made in the offence. The Slovenian team exceeded just once an attack rating of 40%, as they won the second set with 59%.
Natallia Melianiuk, Belarus coach said: “I am glad that we won this game. We are close to reaching our goal to book the ticket to the World Championship in Argentina and we want to take the next step tomorrow.’’
Greece vs. Romania
Greece remain the team that have still no points at the 2017 CEV U18 Volleyball European Championship – Women after an 1-3 (22-25, 25-19, 22-25, 19-25) defeat to Romania. One of the main reasons for the result was the consistency of Romania, although they didn’t entirely control the Greek attack with outside spiker Effrosyni Alexakou recording a terrific haul of 31 points, the highest score at the #EuroVolleyU18W so far. However, Greece had too many ups and downs and struggled with the own reception, while the Romanian team improved the level of their performance in the crunch time.
Istvan Zoltan Bokor, Romanian coach looked already forward: “I think we played with the right discipline to win the game. Our focus is on the last two matches now. We think game by game and want to finish the preliminary round with two more victories.’’
