Brno, Czech Republic, September 6, 2014. Turkey took the seventh place in the final standings of the 2014 CEV U20 Volleyball European Championship - Men after defeating Serbia in the decisive match by 3:2 (25-21, 29-27, 22-25, 23-25, 15-11). For the Turkish team this was the fifth tie-breaker in a total of seven games since the start of the Final Round in Brno.
Turkey vs. Serbia 3:2 (25-21, 29-27, 22-25, 23-25, 15-11)
With 6 points in a row Turkey brought the score from 3-3 up to 9-3 and never looked back. Although the Serbs managed to narrow the gap down they could not catch up and the Turks won the first set by a comfortable 25-21. Serbia started making many more mistakes in the second set and soon found itself with a 9-16 deficit, but some great serving efforts helped the team recover and level the score at 17-17 to prompt an exciting ending. However, it was the Turkish serve that proved crucial as Cansin Ogbai Enaboifo finished it off with an ace for 29-27. In the next set Serbia put more precision into its game and was the dominant force on the court. Turkey tried to stay close behind, but succeeded in doing so only through 15-16 and the opponent won the set by 25-22. The fourth set was very even with both sides stepping up their spiking efforts. After 22-23 Serbia scored three points in a row with Filip Kovacevic acing for the final 25-23. The momentum in offense seemed to have stayed on the Turkish side for the tie-breaker. The Turks were in control of the scoreboard and Mehmet Hacioglu spiked successfully to shape up the final 15-11 and close the match.
Turkey’s Cansin Ogbai Enaboifo and Serbia’s Filip Kovacevic were the best scorers of this match with 20 and 18 points, respectively.
Stevan Simic, captain of Serbia: “Our blocking was not good today, and it was decisive in this match. I think it is a good result for us, the eighth place is great, because I think other top teams are playing well and we are not at the same level at this moment.”
Yigit Gulmezoglu, captain of Turkey: “We played very badly. However, we won. In the last two matches we played like this, but today we had more chances to win.”
Sinisa Rejlic, head coach of Serbia: “It is very hard to play for the seventh place. Both teams did not play well, but the Turkish team was more concentrated at the end of the tie-breaker. But generally we are satisfied with being in the second foursome. It is great success for us to be in Brno and I think our team performed at its maximum.”
Salih Erdogan Tavaci, assistant coach of Turkey: “Of course, we were not in the semifinals and it is bad for us. I think we deserved to play in the semifinals. Today we played well in the first two sets, but then we stopped. In the fifth set we started to play better and finished in seventh place.”
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