Arnhem, Netherlands, April 5, 2017. The undefeated players of Belarus survived a thrilling game at the 2017 CEV U18 Volleyball European Championship – Women in Arnhem to earn a ticket to the semi-finals. They continued their fabulous journey in the tournament with a fourth victory in a row, while the fight for the second spot among the top four will be decided between Poland (2nd) and Serbia (3rd).
You can follow the Championship also on Facebook and Twitter, with the official hashtag to be used for all of your posts and tweets being #EuroVolleyU18W!
Serbia vs. Slovenia
The story of the match between Serbia and Slovenia is quickly recounted as the Serbian team followed up their words with action to gain their second consecutive win in Arnhem, beating their opponents 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-20). Both teams earned one victory in the previous games and needed a success to keep their chances of making the semi-finals alive. And it was Serbia that took control from the beginning of the match and found a way to overcome the Slovenian defence. Combined with too many unforced errors and a weak attack, Slovenia quickly lost their focus. On the other side, the Serbian girls did an excellent job with a dominant net play and a strong service.There was no formula for the Slovenian team to stop the well-working block-defence system of their opponents. Serbia’s outside spiker Jovana Mirosavljevic topped the charts with 19 points.
Serbia coach Jovo Cakovic believes that his team can still reach the semi-finals: “We played a good game, which was better compared to yesterday. But I think that my players can reach an even higher level. We have to make our homework tomorrow and want to win against Greece. Unfortunately, it is not just in our hands, but we believe in our chances of qualifying for the semi-finals.’’
Poland vs. Greece
Poland send Greece home - this could be the summary of the second match on schedule for Wednesday in Pool II. The Polish squad defeated the still winless girls from Greece 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-21) to move up to second place in the pool. The Greek team couldn’t deal with the power and speed of the Polish offence and their problems lasted for the entire match. A poor Greek reception and a great Polish defence work were one of the main reasons for the crushing win claimed by Poland. Poland’s opposite Julia Szczurowska was the main contributor to the result, scoring 16 times for her team, followed by teammate and outside spiker Magdalena Stysiak with 13.
Grzegorz Wagner, Poland coach said: “We knew that we had to win this game to remain in the race for the semi-finals. We improved our reception and attack and deserved the win. The most important game is against Belarus tomorrow. It is a very strong team and we have to refresh our mind for this match. I hope that we can win it.’’
%20-%20kopie.JPG)
Romania vs. Belarus
Both teams left it all on the court, going point for by point in a thrilling five-set match that ended for Belarus 3-2 (28-26, 27-29, 27-25, 18-25, 16-14). It also was the most emotional and closest duel at the European Championship so far, where the advantage continuously bounced from one to the other side. The Romanian girls gave everything they had and played their best game in Arnhem but the better defence and block action from Belarus finally decided the game and dropped the Romanian team into a bit of despair. Despite their great effort, Romania have no more chances to qualify for the semi-finals and will now start the fight for a ticket to the World Championship in Argentina. Top scorer was Romania’s outside spiker Adelina Budai-Ungureanu with an amazing tally of 29 points.
Istvan Zoltan Bokor, Romanian coach said: “My team played a great game, but it was not enough to win today. We were well prepared and acted according to our match plan. I don’t want to look back, because we have another match that we want to win tomorrow.”
Natallia Melianiuk, Belarus coach, explained: “I am glad that we won the game and qualified for the semi-finals. We already reached our first goal, the qualification for the World Championship, and have played a good tournament so far.”
