Men's Volleyball FIVB World Championship 2018

[VolleyRuller96 264]

Serbia, Poland, Czech Republic live up to expectations to start World Championship qualifier on a high note

 

 

Warsaw, Poland, May 23, 2017. The first day of the women’s World Championship qualifier in Warsaw produced three victories for the top favourites of the competition – with the Czech Republic edging their neighbours from Slovakia 3-1 before Olympic silver medallists Serbia routed Iceland in three sets and hosts Poland did the same with Cyprus. The competition continues on Wednesday with another three matches – and will reach its climax this weekend, with the eventual winners of the tournament securing their participation in next year’s World Championship in Japan. 

The Czech Republic defeated their neighbours Slovakia 3-1 (18-25, 25-15, 25-17, 25-16) in the opening game of the Women’s World Championship qualifier in Warsaw. Slovakia set the pace in set no. 1 but the situation changed completely after the three-minute break. The Czech players loosened up with each rally and quickly went from 6-2 to 21-10, finishing this part of the game with a quick 25-15. Coach Marek Rojko’s team had better moments in the beginning of set three, but their opponents kept up their good performance, while Slovakia began to make more and more errors. The fourth set was more of a formality. 
“Slovakia showed a really good level of Volleyball in the first set. We did not do that. We were too tense in the beginning but started to play our own game from the second set on,” said Czech Republic’s setter Pavla Vincourova.

One might call the game between Iceland and Olympic silver medallists Serbia (25-13, 25-15, 25-9) a mismatch, but the overpowered Icelandic players did not seem to worry. Cheered by a group of their own fans and the local crowd alike, coach Daniele Capriotti’s team played a very joyful game, both when on the lead (once, 3-2 in the second set) and 16 points down (at the end of set three). “We are here to learn. We are coming from the Small Countries Division and we need this kind of test and learning experience to raise ourselves to the next level,” commented Capriotti after the match.
“It may have not been a hard game, but we tried to create a good atmosphere, show the energy that we have and play on our level,” said Serbia’s middle blocker Mina Popovic. Both sides did seem to enjoy the match a lot and took a photo together after the referee’s last whistle.

The beginning of Poland vs. Cyprus was nervous, marked with many spoiled serves and missed spikes. Poland, however, found their rhythm only after a good attack by Berenika Tomsia (16-13) and lost only one more point by the end of set no. 1. Good serving by Erika Zembyla gave more trouble to the hosts again in set two, helping Cyprus claim a 4-1 lead. The White-and-Reds regrouped and turned the score around after the first technical time-out, with Natalia Mędrzyk’s efficient serving and good blocking game (25-17). Substituting Malwina Smarzek for Patrycja Polak was a good move on coach Nawrocki’s side and helped his team recover from a very bad beginning of set three (1-7). A series of counterattacks and blocks changed the face of the game. With Tomsia on the service line, the hosts elevated their point advantage to as much as 20-11 and could celebrate their first victory a while later (3-0; 25-14, 25-17, 25-15). 
“As far as Cyprus’ serving goes, I think they used that element to the max, aiming perfectly at the right zones. It was a good test for our receivers. Every match is important to us, regardless of who the opponents are and I would like to see my players put all their skills to work in every match,” said Poland coach Jacek Nawrocki.

[VolleyRuller96 264]

Oranjes and Greece victorious as Austria cause first sensation of World Champs qualifiers 

 

 

Koog aan de Zaan, Netherlands, May 23, 2017. The men’s World Championship qualifier – Pool B in the Netherlands started on Tuesday in Koog aan de Zaan with Austria causing a sensation after rallying to a 3-1 victory over Slovakia before Greece and The Netherlands dropped one set in their respective matches with the Republic of Moldova and Luxembourg, respectively. The competition resumes on Wednesday with another three matches and will reach its climax this coming weekend in Apeldoorn – with the eventual winners booking a ticket to next year’s World Championship in Italy and Bulgaria. 

In the first match played at the Topsportcentrum in Koog aan de Zaan, Austria caused a sensation with their 3-1 victory (27-25, 26-24, 19-25, 25-20) over Slovakia. Austria are currently no. 25 on the European Ranking, while Slovakia hold place 12 – so Slovakia were the pre-favourites going into this match. Paul Buchegger (23 points) and Alexander Berger (19 points) were the main scorers for the Austrians. “We couldn’t have wished for a better start to this tournament”, said Austria coach Michael Warm. “Slovakia is a big Volleyball nation, so we are very satisfied with this win.”

In the second match of the day, Greece lived up to the expectations and beat the Republic of Moldova 3-1 (20-25, 25-20, 25-17, 28-26). It was opposite Mitar Tzourits, the superstar from the Italian club Calzedonia VERONA, who set the pace for the Hellenic team by scoring as many as 29 points. Coach Konstantinos Arseniadis shared his thoughts after the match: “We have had a short preparation and that was the reason for our slow start today. After the first set we found our rhythm. I think we will keep improving with every match.”

Luxembourg, the number 31 team from the European Ranking and gold medallist from the Small Countries Division European Championship only two weeks ago, surprised the home side from The Netherlands in the first set of the last match on schedule for Tuesday. Kamil Rychlicki, the outside hitter from the Belgian team Noliko MAASEIK, was very successful in the first set with his services and spikes. In the second, third and fourth sets the Dutch proved to be stronger than Luxembourg, as many had expected (3-1; 22-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-15). It was substitute Jeroen Rauwerdink, who managed to get his team back on track. “We played rusty during this match,” acknowledged Dutch coach Gido Vermeulen. “For our next matches we have to fix this kind of problems a lot quicker.” 
 

[VolleyRuller96 264]

Montenegro - Russia (men) livestream http://live.robinwidget.org/streamvideo8/montenegro-vs-russia-live-stream-1604497.html

Potentially the biggest chance of finding stream of any match during this tournament -if it's available will be on this site

https://www.batmanstream.com/volleyball-live-streaming-video-2016-5.html

I don't like using unofficial sources, but if CEV doesn't even care for broadcasting of the games... 

Edited May 24, 2017 by VolleyRuller96

[VolleyRuller96 264]

Wow, once again surprisingly good game by . They are losing 1-2 against  but they won previous set 25-16 and lost previous only by 2 points (24-26 and 25-27). If the achieve a win here, who knows, they might even fight for the best 2 in this group

[VolleyRuller96 264]

Well, after a heavy fight Austria lost the tie-break 13-15, and quite undeservedly lost the match. This is still a great result for them, and they might fight for top 2 spots here as they still have Moldova and Luxembourg to play against

Now for tonights match of the day  vs

 

Edited May 24, 2017 by VolleyRuller96

[VolleyRuller96 264]

25-7 for Czech Republic in the 2nd set

[VolleyRuller96 264]

And 25-6 in 3rd 

poor Northern Ireland

[dareza 911]

I really thought that we will have a bit harder match against Belarus. This was too easy.

[VolleyRuller96 264]

Well, from the fragments I saw Slovakian women played much better against Cyprus then ours  

[VolleyRuller96 264]

Wow, we beat Iceland 25-5 in II set

 

Too bad we are now losing 3-8