The Hague, The Netherlands, July 21, 2018. Poland will be playing against Germany in Sunday’s fifth place match of the 2018 CEV U20 Volleyball European Championship - Men. To qualify, the Poles defeated Belarus in four sets in the first game on Saturday’s programme in The Hague. After that, the Germans emerged victorious from a five-set nail-biter against Italy.


Belarus vs. Poland 1-3 (27-29, 28-26, 21-25, 16-25)

Belarus quickly piled up a four-point 8-4 lead in the first set, but that did not last long.  The Poles leveled it at 12-12 and took control for the rest of the set. With a seven-point contribution from Remigiusz Kapica, they claimed a 29-27 win. With improved blocking on both sides of the net, the second set went through many ups and downs for each team, with the gap never exceeding three points in either direction. This time Petr Miniankou reached the seven-point mark to help Belarus on the way to a 28-26 close. At 14-10 in the third set, the Belarusians once again had a four-point lead they could eventually not hold on to because of the many unforced errors. After 19-17, Poland went on an 8-2 run to take the set 25-21. Riding the momentum, the Poles completely dominated the fourth set and, with Mikolaj Sawicki (nine) and Remigiusz Kapica’s (eight) combined tally of 17 points, cruised to a 25-16 conclusion. Remigiusz Kapica was the best scorer of the match with 24 points. Petr Miniankou scored 17 for Belarus.



Uladzislau Charnysh, player of Belarus: "We thought that we could win, but we lost. We will now play for the seventh place. It is very sad."

Mariusz Sordyl, coach of Poland: "It was a difficult match for us after the last game against Italy. It was not easy for our team because we thought that we could play for the first four places. We came here in The Hague and we didn’t know how it would be. In our first official game this season we lost to Belarus, so now we are really happy. It was difficult, because we needed to play with all our players. Everybody chipped in with something positive on the court. Tomorrow we will go for the fifth place."


Germany vs. Italy 3-2 (25-21, 21-25, 25-23, 23-25, 18-16)

As the attacks with the main point-maker of the team did not work well, Germany’s setter Eric Burggräf had no problem finding alternative offensive options in the first set to keep his side firmly in control on the way to a 25-21 win. The Italians reduced the number of serving errors and slightly improved their spiking in the second set, just enough to hold the initiative in their hands and level the match at 25-21. Midway through the third set, Germany managed to open a five point lead, with Anton Brehme on fire in offence. Italy not only caught up, but even took a momentary 22-21 lead. Three rallies down the road the Germans were at set point. Another two, and the set was finished at 25-23 their way. Italy had the upper hand for quite some time in the fourth set, but in the money time, Germany regained control with a three-point lead. Still, after 23-21 to Germany, Italy scored four in a row to re-tie the match and prompt a tie-breaker. The deciding set was a real nail-biter, with three-point margins swinging back and forth. Well into the overtime, it was Germany that managed to emerge with an 18-16 victory and a spot in the fifth-place match. 27 points to Anton Brehme’s name made him the best scorer of the match. Italy’s Diego Cantagalli signed off with 21.






Engage with the U20 European Championship on social media by using the competition’s official hashtag #EuroVolleyU20M.

Click here for more information.