16/05/2015 21:53
Russia claim thrilling five-setter with Italy to book ticket to Puerto Rico
2015 FIVB U20 Women Volleyball World Championship - European Qualification
Anapa, Russia, May 16, 2015. The home heroines of Russia ended the tournament held at Voleygrad in Anapa on a high note as they came back from 1:2 in the ‘grand finale’ with Italy to record a tie-break win (25-14, 21-25, 24-26, 25-23, 15-10) which secured them a ticket to this year’s FIVB Volleyball Women’s U20 World Championship which is due to take place later this summer in Puerto Rico. Earlier on Saturday, last year’s European bronze medallists Slovenia could make up for the disappointment of the past few days and travel now home with at least one victory from the tournament held in Anapa as they came back strong from two sets down to edge Poland at the tie-break (25-27, 19-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-12) even though they were missing their injured libero Maja Pahor.
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Slovenia vs. Poland 3:2 (25-27, 19-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-12)
As they were both determined to finish the tournament with their first victory, Poland and Slovenia fought hard right from the start of the match and they seemed willing not to concede any easy point to the opponent. Poland got up by 8:6 at the first technical time-out of the opening set as their opposite Malwina Smarzek scored with consistency. On a mistake by Katja Mihevc, Poland widened their lead up to five points but they also started making errors and Slovenia flipped the charts around leading the way by 22:20. The final section of the opening set was intense and very dramatic, with the teams exchanging the lead back and forth before Poland sealed the final 27-25.
The players in red and white shirts opened set 2 with a 10:4 run as Slovenia’s performance was still affected by the injury suffered the day before by their libero Maja Pahor. Slovenia’s problems were evident in reception and even though their coach tried to seek refuge in some substitutions, they could only reduce their deficit to three points (17:20) before Poland finished it off at 25-19.
The third set followed a similar plot with the score remaining close in the early stages before Slovenia broke away at 11:8. Poland could catch up but Slovenia scored a couple of important points to make it 21:19 in their favour. The final section of this set demanded a lot from the players’ nerves and in the end a mistake by Smarzek helped Slovenia claim the final 25-21 and extend the match.
After that setback, Poland seemed to lose focus in set 4 making mistake after mistake; Slovenia quickly went up by 5:3 and 14:10 exploiting Poland’s shaky reception. The silver medallists from last year’s U19 European Championship were able to hold on to their lead and after cruising to the final 25-22 they restored the balance in the match and called for the tie-break.
Slovenia stretched momentum to the fifth set opening with an 8:3 run and even though Poland attempted a comeback helped by their star player Smarzek, it was Slovenia to celebrate in the end at 15-12.
Slovenia’s coach Joze Casar commented: “It was a great comeback, especially after we played so bad in the first two sets. We tried some different combinations and our opponents could not adjust to that. Once we regrouped and fought hard, they could no longer stop us. Our MVP of this game is Katja Mihalinec. We played without our regular libero today and she performed really well in that role.”
Setter Eva Mori added: “We played really good today whilst our performance from Thursday and Friday was bad. We came here hoping to finish first in the pool but we lost the first match to Russia quite bad and our morale went down. Today we finally performed well and at least we can go home with a victory from this tournament.”
Italy vs. Russia 2:3 (14-25, 25-21, 26-24, 23-25, 10-15)
In what was the ‘big finale’ of the tournament held in Anapa, Russia came out with all guns blazing recording four straight points and forcing Italian coach Luca Cristofani into an early time-out. The break did not help and Russia scored another three in a row as their block worked just superbly. Italy got their first point at 7:1 after a mistake by Svetlana Serbina. Tatiana Iurinskaia quickly got the home side back on track (9:2) and by the mid of the set the Italians worked really hard in order to reduce their deficit (14:8). As they felt like their opponents were attempting a comeback, the home heroines kept the pace high and worked really hard to not let the game slip away from their hands. Iurinskaia and Anastasia Barchuk hit ball after ball with immense power to make it 21:9 and even though Italy scored some more points also on mistakes by their opponent, a powerful kill by Angelina Sperskaite brought the first set to an end at 25-14.
The second set started with a flurry of mistakes from both sides. The Russians struggled in defence and reception and eventually replaced their libero with Kristina Kurnosova joining the actions for Natalia Guskova. This was a good move as Russia got back on track and claimed a 7:5 lead after scoring three consecutive points. However, it did not last long as the Italians started to play with more consistency and got to the front before two aces in a row by Anna Lazareva made it 10:11. Russia set the pace by the slimmest margin (16:15) at the second technical time-out and after a very tough discussion with the first referee, Italy’s Sofia D’Odorico received a yellow card. As Russia made a number of mistakes in attack, they lost the leadership in the game and D’Odorico eventually brought the set to an end at 25-21 for Italy.
After this setback, the Russians played with even more determination in set 3 (8:7) but again they started making mistakes, this time in defence, and trailed by three at the second mandatory stop. Russia could level the score at 19 but Italy remained in control making it 23:21 in their favour. Though the hosts scored two in a row to restore the balance, because of some critical mistakes they eventually lost this set as well by 24-26.
The Russian players looked tired in the early stages of the fourth set and they again showed problems in reception and defence; Italy used their chance to break away (11:8) but after the second technical time-out Russia got to the front (19:18) and could hold on to a small lead to end it at 25-23 and call for the tie-break.
The final set started with a 3:0 lead for Russia but the Italians responded quickly to even the score. The fans from the stands never stopped cheering for the home side and with Angelina Lazarenko standing behind the service line Russia got another four points to lead by 8:3 as the teams switched sides of the court. There was a lot of tension in the air since the prize at stake – a ticket to the World Championship – was a valuable one. Italy helped Russia with some more unforced errors and this way the home side cruised to the final 15-10 that takes them on the plane to Puerto Rico where the World Championship will be held later this summer.
“There were no weak opponents at this tournament,” Russia’s coach Petr Kobrin said. “Italy proved their strength beating Poland and Slovenia in their previous matches. I am very happy that my girls could stand the pressure which got even higher when we trailed 1:2. They played as a team and they supported each other in an exemplary way so that in the end we got our ticket to the World Championship and we do not have to wait for the last spots to be assigned as per the World Ranking. This victory is very important since it is an honour for us and for Russia to compete at the World Championship. And we deserved to be there!”
Russia’s star player Anastasia Barchuk commented: “Italy did not perform that well in the first set whilst we were well prepared and we had analysed very carefully their previous matches. In the second set we relaxed a bit and this way Italy could draw level. They changed their pace and started playing more aggressively but we did not falter. Our victory today comes from a lot of team work, we helped each other as much as we could and tried to execute the plans we had agreed upon with our coach.”
Italy’s coach Luca Cristofani said: “We played well and I am happy with the performance of my players. Some moments were difficult for us as I counted at least three mistakes made by the referees and I got very angry, so in the end I received a red card. However, I am happy with the way we performed at this difficult, yet important tournament.”
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