06/01/2011 00:00
Girls start their campaign to make it to final round in Ankara
2011 CEV Youth European Championships
Luxembourg, January 6, 2011. With Belgium and Turkey already pre-qualified, a flurry of teams started yesterday their campaign to claim a ticket for the final round of the 2011 CEV Youth European Championship – Girls which is coming up next May in Ankara. Those that are traditionally considered as major forces to contend with, like for instance Russia, Serbia and Italy, did open their respective qualifiers with clear wins to re-assert their ambitions to go to Turkey and play there once again a major role in the event starring Europe’s up-and-coming stars.
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Pool A in Kladovo (SRB)
The girls of Greece had an easy task in the first round of Pool A in Kladovo as they outclassed Austria 3:0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-16), after 76 minutes of play. Greece was dominant throughout the whole match. The Austrian team only managed to show some resistance in the opening moments going up 4:1, but after the time-out asked by Mrs. Karolina Barzouka, head coach of the Greek team, the situation on the field changed completely. By the first technical time-out the Greeks were leading by one point, which was increased to three by the second mandatory stop. After that it was a matter of routine for the Greek team to wrap up the set at 25-17. In the second set, the Greek side did not let their opponents surprise them once again, they were very focused and determined to finish the match as quickly as possible. They did it very efficiently allowing their rivals only 15 and 16 points in the last two sets, although in the third set the Austrian team managed to keep up all the way until the second technical time-out. “I am not satisfied, it’s not the best way to start the tournament, but life goes on. We managed to keep up with the Greek side in the first part of each set, but after the second technical time-out our reception kept falling apart every time and that’s something we need to work on” Austrian coach Matus Kalny said. “We got into the right rhythm from the beginning and after that everything was easy. We are very happy with this victory and I hope we continue in the same way throughout the whole tournament” Greek captain Soultana Christinidou added. Greece’s best scorers were Maria Genitsaridi with 17 points, followed by Alexia Kalantaridou with 12, while for the Austrians the most efficient ones were Emilia Mory with 9 points, and Raffaela Graf with 8.
The Serbian girls, who are also the reigning European vice-champions, started their home campaign with an easy victory over Portugal 3:0 (25-9, 25-10, 25-11), after 64 minutes of play. As expected, the Serbian team got off to a perfect start beating Portugal in the first match in Kladovo. From the beginning, the difference in class between the two teams was more than obvious. In the first set, the Serbian girls, led by Mina Tomic with 7 points and Bjanka Busa with 5, allowed their rivals to score only 9 points. The host team started the second set furiously leading 8:0 at the first technical time-out, and then the score showed a mighty 16:6 at the second one. The gap got even bigger by the end of the set which was finalized at 25-10 for the European vice-champions. In the third set the visiting players managed to show some resistance, but it was far from any real danger for the Serbian team who wrap up the match winning the final set 25-11. “I am not completely satisfied but today we played with a rival who is not a real point of reference for us and I think we can do much better. Tomorrow we play against Greece who has improved a lot and this will be a right kind of test for us. I hope we do well, and surely we will try to keep the good rhythm all the way until the end of the tournament” said Serbian coach Marijana Mirosavljevic. “It’s what we expected. We deserved this victory and I hope this wonderful crowd will carry us tomorrow as well because we play Greece who is by all means a more dangerous rival” said Serbian captain Sara Milenkovic. Mina Popovic topped the charts of the best scorers with 14 points, followed by Bjanka Busa and Mina Tomic with 13 apiece.
Pool B in Foligno (ITA)
The Spanish girls enjoyed a good start of their campaign in Foligno by cruising past the young “Oranjes” in four sets (25-23, 25-14, 23-25, 25-23). It was in reality a balanced match, but Spain got the upper hand in the crucial phases of the game with Portero and Rivero protagonists with 19 and 20 points respectively. For The Netherlands three players finished the game in double digits: Keijsers and Braakhuis with 14 apiece while Plak scored 13. After the first two sets won by Spain there was a reaction of the Dutch girls, but in the fourth and last set the Spanish girls succeeded to win an important match.
The hosts of Italy, later in the afternoon, did not have major troubles in their opening game against Lithuania which ended in a quick 3:0 (25-20, 25-10, 25-11). The match was constantly controlled by the “Azzurre” that could easily win also thanks to their excellent setter, Chiara Scacchetti. Italy did a very good job all the way through but during the first set they had to cope with mighty attacks coming from the Lithuanian side of the net. Nevertheless, Lithuania was totally outclassed in blocking (12 vs. 1) and the outcome of the game was never in danger. Maruotti, Gobbi and Chirichella were the best scorers of the day with 12, 11 and 10 points respectively.
Pool C in Bardejov (SVK)
Slovakia and the Czech Republic started very well their campaign in Pool C which kicked off yesterday in the Slovak city of Bardejov. The home girls beat Estonia very easily 3:0 and collected three points. The Czech girls also edged out Finland in straight sets, so both favorites of the group made their first step to win a ticket for the final round scheduled for early May in Ankara, Turkey.
The Czech girls started their game very well (6:1), before Finnish coach Tapio Koivula stopped the opponent with a time-out and it helped. Finland collected five points in a row and closed the gap to one point (6:7). But the Czech team improved the game, pushed harder and lead 16:8 at the second technical time-out. After three aces in a row by Finnish middle blocker Karoliina Friberg the score stood at 16:12 for the Czech Republic. Coach Stanislav Mitac asked for a time-out and the taller Czech players took the game again under control and won the first set 25-18. The second set was clear from the start to the end. The “Suomi” girls had big problems in attack, while the tall Czech girls were very strong in blocking and solid from the serving line as well (25-17). The Czech players started well also the third set and lead 8:5 at the first technical time-out. Finland did not give up, fought very hard and leveled the score to 10:10. But it was not enough for the well playing Czech team who won the third set 25-17 and collected the first three points in the tournament. Best scorer of the game was Karoliina Friberg from Finland with 14 points. Katerina Zemanova bagged 11 for the Czechs. Her compatriots Katerina Nalezkova and Veronika Trnkova collected 9 points apiece. "We didn’t play the way we wanted. If we want to have success, our setter must play better. We must to keep our motivation for tomorrow’s match against Slovakia. If we will play at 100%, we have a small chance to win” said the head coach of team Finland Tapio Koivula. Finnish setter Iida Paananen injured her ankle in the first set, but she came back in the third. “I think she is ok and she can play tomorrow” added Koivula. Czech coach Stanislav Mitac was satisfied. “We are very happy, because we entered the tournament well. The match was difficult because it was the first important international game for these young players. The first set was because of this a little bit nervous and this is the reason why we made some mistakes. I think our team will calm down and we will play better in the next games of the tournament. Our goal is to advance to the final round of the 2011 CEV Youth European Championships” said Mitac.
Slovakia started the match before the home fans very good and when middle blocker Michaela Suslikova was in the serving area it was already 5:2 for the guests. Estonia stroke back and leveled the score to 5:5. Slovakia lead 8:7 at the first technical time-out, but then the home girls pushed the gas and started to crush the opponent. Two aces by spiker Andrea Strbova, a nice block by Nikola Stumpelova and the score was 12:7 for Slovakia. The Estonian girls could not go through the strong Slovak defense, the home team also served very well and the score was 22:12. The first set was finished by an ace of Suslikova (25-13). The second set was under full control of the local girls. Slovakia was better in service, attack and defense and took an early lead 7:2. The Estonian girls could not find a way through the strong Slovakian block and when opposite Nikola Pistelakova hit an ace the score was 17:11 for the young Slovaks who won the second set 25-18. The story of the game was the same also in the third set. Slovakia continued to play well and the score was 8:5 for them at the first technical time-out. The Estonian players fought bravely, but their quality was not enough to cope with Slovakia. The score was 16:9 for the home team and when the best scorer of the game, spiker Miroslava Rehakova (13 points) hit two aces in a row it was 18:9 for the hosts. Everything was clear and the head coach of team Slovakia Eva Kosekova had the possibility to send spiker Natalia Sugarova from the bench who celebrated her 16th birthday on court. “It was a present for her," said coach Kosekova. Slovakia won the third set 25-16 and the game 3:0. “We are happy for the win. The game was not very nice, but for us these are important points. We changed many players during the year and some of them played their first important tournament last December at the MEVZA Championships in Hungary, so the match was difficult for them because they lack experience. Our players were able to cope with the pressure and I am satisfied. I want to thank the spectators, they made a great atmosphere and that helped us. We will prepare for tomorrow where we play against Finland” stated Eva Kosekova. “We think we had to play better in defense, because we made many mistakes that should have been prevented, because we have trained a lot. There were also many mistakes in our service, especially in the second set. I think our block was great and also our attack was not too bad when we had a chance. Our team spirit is good despite the loss and we hope that we will be successful in the next games of the tournament” said Estonian captain Kaisa Bahmatsev.
Pool D in Kienbaum (GER)
Germany and France had played three times each other during the preparation for thi qualifier and every match was won by the German team; finally the hosts could outplay the “Bleus” once again with a clear 3:0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-14). Best German players were Nele Barber and Carina Aulenbrock with 11 points each while for France Safiatou Zongo and Elisabeth Fedele scored 9 apiece. Coach Jens Tietböhl said: “In a tournament like that, the self-caused errors play a big role and we managed to minimize them. I am happy about winning this game that confidently, above all the last set, the second with a little bit of luck. We can and we have to improve our performance, but the first step is done”.
The second match of the first competition day was pretty balanced, even though the Russian team dominated the scene for most of the game (25-21, 25-18, 25-17). Only a lot of Russian errors helped Bulgaria stay into the game. Anyhow Russia has the taller players and you could see that this made the difference throughout the whole match. Best scorer was Valeriya Shatunova with 20 points while Iskra Mintova and Simona Dimitrova bagged 11 apiece for Bulgaria. In the first half of the first set both teams showed a good performance before Bulgarian Gergana Georgieva injured her ankle in the mid of the set. The Bulgarians lost their concentration and Russia could extend the lead to 12:17. Russian head coach Svetlana Safronova took a time-out after a tie at 20 and then her girls claimed the opening set in good fashion. A nearly similar picture was to be seen in the second set. Russia showed very dangerous and clever attacks, but at the same time they produced too many self-caused errors. Bulgaria stayed tuned with a very good performance from the serving line to draw at 18 all before the Russian players use their height to defeat their opponents 25-18. The following set didn’t bring something new. The Russian girls exposed some impressive attacks that the Bulgarian defence couldn’t manage to handle, because the coordination between block and defence wasn’t good. Even if the Bulgarian team played some clever attacks they couldn’t win one set in this match. The last ended 25-17 and so Russia defeated got the first win in this tournament.
Pool E in Kanal (SLO)
Ukraine and the hosts of Slovenia started extremely well their campaign in the qualifier to the 2011 CEV Youth European Championship – Girls that kicked off this afternoon in Kanal by edging out, in three straight sets, Belarus and Denmark respectively.
In the opening match starring Ukraine and Belarus, the girls from Minsk started pretty well, scoring a series of 4 consecutive points. The plot didn’t change up to the first technical time-out where Belarus stamped an impressive 8:0. However, after the break, the Ukrainians clawed back vigorously and reduced the gap to only 2 points by the second mandatory stop, before claiming the opening set profiting of many mistakes committed by their opponents. Ukraine set the tone all the way through in the second set that finished with a 25-22 and that same pattern was to be seen also in the next section of the game, where the girls from Kiev dictated the rhythm for the final 25-21 and 3:0.
The home girls of Slovenia scored their first victory by edging out Denmark 3:0. After the guests scored the first two rallies, the home team woke up and the result at the first technical time-out was already in their favor (3:8). At 6:13 the Danish coach called a time-out but till the end Slovenia showed a better performance and won the first set (12-25). In the second set Slovenia took the lead (2:9) and managed to keep it till the end with a clear 11-25. In the beginning of the third set both teams were playing good but then the Slovenian side took the initiative and started to increase the difference for a second, mighty 11-25.
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