Zlín, Czech Republic, April 11, 2018. As teams returned with new strength after the rest day, Belarus seized their first victory against Bulgaria (3-0), before Turkey beat hosts Czech Republic (3-1) and Germany extended their winning streak in Pool I of the 2018 CEV U18 Volleyball European Championship - Men.
Live streaming of all matches is available here.
Bulgaria vs. Belarus 0-3 (17-25, 16-25, 21-25)
In the first match of the day Belarus could finally break the streak of bad luck and take home a win in straight sets. The Belarussian boys had finally gotten the taste of the game, as no time-outs or substitutions from team Bulgaria could change the direction the match was heading to. At 17-21 late in the third set, the Bulgarians still believed they had a chance, even though they were facing a four-point deficit. They had a few successful episodes, the bench was supporting their team harder than ever, but eventually they had to admit their opponent's dominance in the third set, as Belarus seized their first win.
Aliaksei Kavaliou, who might be the most emotional of the coaches here in Zlín, could finally change his frown to a proud smile as his team showed their best on court: “Today it was finally our game. We kept the good rhythm of the game and I hope we will continue with this level of performance in our next match. We want to win again.”
Denis Karyagin, opposite hitter from Bulgaria, is one of the top scorers of the team in this tournament, today he brought seven points to the pot: “It is hard to comment our loss, but we do not lose our spirit. We will try to show a better result tomorrow against Turkey and keep our honor.”
Czech Republic vs. Turkey 1-3 (23-25, 22-25, 25-20, 22-25)
When the result was 20-17 in Turkey's favour late in the first set, the Czechs lacked communication on their side of the net, as three players crashed, going after the same ball. Coach Zach called a time-out immediately after and thus the episode eventually played in the team's favour as they managed to even the score to 20-20. The set then continued point-by-point, with Turkey being more successful in the final episodes. The Czechs held the lead for most of the second set, but yet again, Turkey dictated the final events of it. Understanding this was their last moment to shine, the Czechs managed to grab the third set with a comfortable lead, but it was not enough as Turkey eventually claimed their second win here in Zlín.
Turkey's head coach Hüseyin Düzceler accepted the congratulations after the victory: “We are very happy for winning today in such a difficult match. We want to continue in this way tomorrow against Bulgaria.”
Jiří Zach, who coaches the Czechs admitted: “If we had won today, for sure, we would have secured a spot among the top four sides of this tournament. Unfortunately, we produced many mistakes and did not manage to turn this match into a win. Turkey served well, whilst we, on the other hand, were not concentrated on the service. We must win tomorrow against Germany, then there still is a possibility to go to the semifinals.”
Greece vs. Germany 2-3 (19-25, 25-21, 25-17, 19-25, 5-15)
Greece held the lead for most of the first set, but Germany levelled the score to 19-19 and marched right to grab the set 25-19. The Greeks then started fresh in the second and managed to keep the lead until the end of the set, later on the team was also more successful in the final moments of the third set. The Germans returned to the game more focused in the fourth set and this was the breaking point of the game as they not only snatched the victory in the fourth, but achieved a rather comprehensive 15-5 win in the tiebreaker. This set the grounds to a German party as the fans and the players took the court after the game to celebrate their fourth win in four games.
Even though Germany were the favourites before the game, Filip John, outside hitter of Germany confirmed it does not mean anything: “We knew the match would be hard and Greece would put up a fight. We played really bad the second and third sets, but I am happy we managed to turn things around in the end.”
Coach Stefanos Nanas of Greece: “The German team is the best team of this pool. We wanted to beat them and we were close to doing so. For us this result is also good, because we have one point. We must rest now and we will see, what will happen tomorrow with Belarus - we will try to do everything that is possible.”
Tomorrow the last pool matches will be played in Zlín and Púchov. On Saturday the 4 best teams of each pool will remain in the competition, as the top 2 teams will have qualified for the semi-finals, while the other two teams will fight for places 5 - 8. The eventual champions will be crowned on Sunday, April 15.
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