28/06/2019 20:00
Romania deliver home show to secure Silver #EuroLeagueW top honours
CEV Volleyball European Silver League 2019
Alexandria, Romania, June 28, 2019. Romania made amends for their 1-3 loss earlier this week to secure a 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-17) home victory and edge Slovenia 15-12 in the all-important Golden Set to claim top honours from the CEV Volleyball European Silver League 2019. As a result, Romania will contest the 2020 edition of the Golden League. The most prolific players of Romania were Adelina Budai-Ungureanu, who top scored with 21 points, as Roxana Iancu and Ariana-Cristiana Pirv contributed to their team’s success with 13 apiece.
Both teams started the match exchanging points, and the course of the first set did not change much up to 14-14. This is when Team Romania with young player Francesca Ioana Alupei set the tone in attack, well supported by Pirv and Budai-Ungureanu, who eventually secured a 25-22 win for the home side.
Romania started the second set in the best way, again with Budai-Ungureanu and Pirv joining forces for 4-0, 7-2 leads. After this, Slovenia bounced back with some points from their opposite hitter Darja Erzen and setter Eva Mori serving strong (11-6). The decision about who was going to win the second set came after the time-out called at 11-6, when Budai-Ungureanu resumed her series of powerful hits. The home team eventually cruised to a comprehensive 25-14 win.
Romania continued their domination in the third set, leading the way by four points at 10-6. The head coach of Slovenia, Alessandro Chiappini, made some substitutions, his team did not surrender, and especially outside hitter Pia Blazic fought back and helped move the score to 15-13. The Romanians, however, cashed most of the crucial points at the important moments and triumphed 25-17, meaning that a Golden Set would determine the eventual winners of the competition.
Slovenia started the Golden Set by leading 2-0 and 8-5 with the help of Darja Erzen. Romania made too many mistakes and could not find their best play for at least five minutes. After that, however, the hosts finally fought back to level the score at 10-10. The players of Romania did their very best, started a real Volleyball show, did not look back anymore and finished the set off at 15-12.
Luciano Pedullà, head coach of Romania, said: “It is unbelievable and I am so happy because the girls trust me. We played three sets at the highest level and overall, it was one of our best matches in this Silver League.”
Diana Lorena Balintoni, setter of Romania and player of the match: “We were well prepared, I am glad that we could change the course of the first match, so today it is our turn to smile.”
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