Men's Volleyball CEV European Championship 2017

[De_Gambassi 1,225]

il y a 26 minutes, VolleyRuller96 a déclaré:

After first three sets I honestly wonder how good would France  be without Ngapeth and Grebennikov.

 

Toping WL first round.

 

The difference between then and now lying mostly on Boyer.

Edited August 27, 2017 by De_Gambassi

[VolleyRuller96 264]

Germany and Italy secure advancement with straight-set wins in Szczecin

 

Szczecin, Poland, August 27, 2017.  On the second competition day of Pool B in Szczecin, Italy rebounded after their first leg loss at LOTTO EUROVOLLEY POLAND 2017 with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-20) victory over Slovakia to secure advancement to the elimination rounds in Katowice. Germany followed suit with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-20) win against the Czech Republic to take over the top of the current standings with two victories after Sunday’s late match at Azoty Arena.


Slovakia vs. Italy 0-3 (14-25, 19-25, 20-25)

Italy rushed into the first set with a 6-0 lead and never looked back. A phenomenally performing Luca Vettori made a fantastic behind-the-advertising-panels save to bring his team to set point. Soon after, Vettori’s kill block finished the job at 25-14.

The Italians won the second set as well, but this time the Slovaks made them work for it. Slovakia even gained control of the scoreboard between the two technical time-outs, but after 14-13 gave up their lead for good. Filippo Lanza played a perfect second set for Italy, but it was Oleg Antonov who flew in from the back row to hammer the ball onto the floor for 25-19.

Improving their spiking success, the Slovaks kept fighting in the third set, but were once again competitive only through 14-14. The more experienced Italian squad once again managed to break away before Antonov presented another brilliant finish to the spectators – an ace for 25-20 and 3-0!

With 15 points, including four aces, on his tally, Filippo Lanza topped the scorers. His Italian teammate Luca Vettori scored 13 times, while none of Slovakia’s players reached the double digits.



Peter Mlynarcik, player of Slovakia: "We had problems in reception. Italy’s serving caused us a lot of problems. A huge difference could be seen between these two teams, but the last set was OK. Now we have to concentrate on the match against Germany and play better than this evening."

Peter Ondrovic, player of Slovakia: "I do not know why the game started so badly for us. Later we were able to improve our reception and play some spectacular actions. The problem is that the Italians are a team that know how to play under pressure and they proved it today. They were better - not subject to discussion. Germany come next - a hard task for us."

Matteo Piano, player of Italy: "We won this match and this places us in a very good position in Pool B. But we will not rest on our laurels. The Czechs play well, and it will not be an easy match tomorrow. We hope that we will be playing again in front of such an incredible audience as we did today. We love the Polish fans! They give us a lot of support."

Luca Spirito, player of Italy: "There are no better or worse teams. This is the European Championship and every team came here to win. We have to keep our concentration during this tournament and play every match on a high level."




Czech Republic vs. Germany 0-3 (19-25, 14-25, 20-25)

It was 5-0 to Germany shortly after the match started. Although the German spikers dominated at the net, the Czech Republic managed to climb back up and tie it at 11-11. By the technical time-out the Germans were again three points ahead and did not let this lead slip away anymore. With a seven-point contribution from György Grozer, they finished the set at 25-19.

The Czechs won the first rally of the second set, but lost the next eight. Improving on both serving and blocking, coach Andrea Giani’s squad established total control on the court throughout the set and cruised to a comfortable 25-14 win.

As the Czech team raised their game in set 3, so did György Grozer. Well supported by his captain and setter Lukas Kampa, the German opposite was flying high, scoring as many as nine points, including the last one for 25-20 and 3-0.

With a total of 19 points, György Grozer was by far the best scorer of the match, the only one on either side of the net, reaching the double digits.



Michal Finger, player of Czech Republic: "The serving and the blocking of the Germans were crucial for this match. They played better in defence as well. In the third set we were able to make some good serves and block and in the meanwhile they lost some points due to several outs. That is why the result was much closer than in the previous sets."

Marek Beer, player of Czech Republic: "We made some stupid mistakes during this match. In the decisive moments the cold blood was missing. This match was totally different from the one with Slovakia. On Friday we were aware that that match was our ‘to be or not to be’ in the tournament, but today there was no pressure. We had nothing to lose, so we could take the risk."

Lukas Kampa, captain of Germany: "The next match with Slovakia is important for us, even if we know that we are already in the next phase of the tournament. We want to win this pool, so the pressure is still on. We have only 19 hours for recovery, which is the most important thing right now."

Julian Zenger, player of Germany (who turned 20 on Saturday): "It was the best birthday present I could get. Not only am I glad to be in the match roster, but above all because I managed to defend some balls and help the team. This way the victory tastes better. I was afraid of entering the game, but after the first balls I felt at home and it seems to me that it looked good."

Andrea Giani, coach of Germany: "I am really happy because today we delivered a solid performance in many elements. As for the results in individual sets, this is a secondary issue. I am primarily interested in the quality of our performance, and that was high."

[VolleyRuller96 264]

Belgium take the lead in Pool D, France win the race for survival

 

Katowice, Poland, August 27, 2017. Belgium served their second five-setter, defeating Turkey 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 21-25, 27-25, 18-16). With four points and two victories, Belgium take the lead in pool D. As both teams achieved impressive results on Friday, spectators gathered in Spodek Arena bargain on seeing great spectacle. Belgium and Turkey grew to the occasion, leaving audience satisfied with yet another tie breaker in Katowice. France and The Netherlands fought for survival in the competition, delivering the second tie-break of the day. Laurent Tillie and his players took the eventual victory (25-22, 23-25, 21-25, 30-28, 15-12), keeping only Belgium certain of advancing to the next round. 

An even beginning of the first set was broken by Pieter Verhees who’s ace was followed by a tip of Stjin D’Hulst, giving Belgium one point lead (2-1). Few minutes later Turkey caught up and run ahead to 8-7 at the first technical time-out. The score turned around quickly as Tomas Rousseaux scored two aces and put his team 11-8 ahead, forcing Turkey’s coach to call a time-out. After Burutay Subasi’s kills followed by marvellous Mert Matic’s block (21-21), new hope was pulled into Turkish hearts, but it was Belgium who won the opener 25-22 with Rousseaux’ spike. 

After well-kept passing and powerful performance at the service line by Sam Deroo, Belgium jumped at 5-3 leading at the beginning of the second set. However, Gökhan Gökgöz fierce service followed by Metin Toy’s left-wing kill pushed Turkey 8-7 ahead at the first technical time-out. Belgium’s mistakes kept Turkey’s lead 11-8 and allowed them to control the game, nonetheless the situation was changing rapidly. Belgium didn’t surrender as they regained focus and went ahead to 19-18 after Pieter Verhees’ counter-attack, but Metin Toy proved powerful at the service line once again ending the set 25-22. 

Similarly to previous sets both teams began playing tight after returning to court ten minutes later. After some mistakes of Belgian team and nice spike by Mert Matic, it was Turkey who led 8-4 at the first technical time-out. Impressive kills by Rousseaux and Verhees let Belgium start the chase and get closer to 11-10. Turkey found it hard to keep the four-point lead at 17-13, when D’Hulst came down from the service line after turning the lead - with the help of Verhees - to 19-17 for Belgium. Metin Toy finished the thrilling and full of twists last part of the set at 25-21 giving Turkey the lead in the match. 

Turkey kept the momentum, putting a lot of pressure on Belgium and taking early lead at 6-2 and keeping the four point lead at the first technical time out with the help of Gökhan Gökgöz. A few moments later Gökgöz sustained an injury, while Belgium slowly caught up at 17-17 and were able to win another vehement ending 27-25.

Tie-break started with balanced game as both teams kept their focus and after first minutes the result showed 5-5. After long service by Toy, Belgium led 8-7 at the side switch. Turkey regained focus and with some nice blocks not only caught up, but had a match point. Nonetheless, after a block by Pieter Verhees and Francois Lecat it was Belgium who had a chance to win a match (15-14). They did it finally at 18-16 after Turkey’s long spike.

Quotes

Vital Heynen, Belgium coach: “We played very bad today, so the future of Belgium is not looking good. We should play much better against Turkey, who played a very good game. The most interesting thing is to play bad and win. If you can learn this, you can go far. So that is interesting.”

Tomas Rousseaux, Belgium outside spiker: “It was a very interesting match. It was difficult for us to play the same level as we played with France. Maybe we were a little bit too stressed as it was a very important game for us today. It wasn’t our most beautiful Volleyball today, but we were able to win and we are happy because of that.”

Josko Milenkoski, Turkey coach: "We played a great game today, despite the loss. We had two match points in both 4th and the 5th set, but I think we did lose a bit of rhythm when Gökhan Gökgöz sustained an injury. Perhaps we need to play with keeping our emotions more in control, which is difficult when the game slips away form your hands. I am a bit disappointed with that result, as we were close to both winning and getting three points here. I think we will be going to the play-offs, but it is now a matter of waiting to see if we secure it today when France win or whether we will have to confirm our spot tomorrow against them ourselves.”

Arslan Ekşi, Turkey setter: “We are really sad as we have failed in this match. I think we deserved the win, but we couldn’t finish it as we wanted. We have played really good Volleyball and we did our best. We won on Friday, we were close to winning here, so tomorrow we will try to win with France.”

The Netherlands vs France 2-3 (22-25, 25-23, 25-21, 28-30, 12-15)

The opening belonged to France, who quickly jumped 4-0 ahead. Gido Vermeulen called a time-out, but France maintained their lead to 8-3 with a counter-attack spike by Stephen Boyer. Kevin Le Roux proved strong at the service line, allowing France to move the score to 15-9. Despite their best tries in defence, The Netherlands were not able to tie the score and Barthélemy Chineyeze finished the set 25-22 with a powerful spike. 
 
With well-kept passing and efficient spikes on both wings, France jumped to a 4-1 lead at the beginning of the second set. Chinenyeze pushed France 6-3 ahead with a smart tip and Le Roux extended the lead to four points at the first technical time-out (8-4). A triple block performed by Nimir Abdel-Aziz, Thijs ter Horst and Thomas Koelewijn and Daan Van Haarlem’s smart dink helped the Oranjes level the score at 11-11. It was just the beginning of a Dutch getaway - they took a 16-14 lead at the second technical time-out. A very balanced final stage of the set was finished at 25-23 with the Netherlands’ spike. 

Laurent Tillie did not waste a moment at the beginning of the third set, calling time out at 4-3 for The Netherlands. Nevertheless, it did not give the desired effect as Andringa’s fine spike extended the Dutch lead to two points (5-3). The Netherlands managed to keep it at the first technical time-out (8-6). France tried to turn the score as they caught up at 15-15, but with well playing Andringa and Abdel-Aziz, the Dutch team were able to put an end to the French chase. Cheered up by their fans gathered in Spodek Arena, The Netherlands played incredible defence and won the third set 25-21. 

 

The Netherlands opened the fourth set with the same lead at 8-6 with a double block by Abdel-Aziz and Michael Parkinson. France brought all their strengths to the table, sending long awaited Earvin Ngapeth to court, who helped his team turn the score to 11-8. At 22-21 for the Netherlands, Laurent Tillie called a break which helped his team keep their cool. With patient play point by point and a good performance from Thibault Rossard, France extended their chances in the match, winning the set at 30-28.

A fierce fight from both sides with Ngapeth jumping over the advertising boards at 2-2 and Abdel-Aziz firing a strong spike at 3-3 kept audience at the edge of their seats. Rossard served two aces, extending his team's lead to two points (6-4). After a Dutch error, France increased their advantage to three points (10-7) and were able to hold on to it until the very end (15-12).

Quotes

Laurent Tillie, France coach: "Truth be told we don’t play well at the moment. We are fighting against injuries, tiredness, stress and we want to play too good for our current abilities. We are battling everywhere, in all elements on court - setting, spiking, blocking, serving… Today’s goal was just about survival and tomorrow’s goal will be the same. We are accepting right now that we are not playing well and we will have to find solution while trying to survive in this competition. We hoped we wouldn’t have to use Earvin Ngapeth so early in the competition, because he is not in a good physical shape. He did two good training sessions in the past couple of days and it was either to use him today or never, because if we had lost this game, we would be out of the race. We had to take that risk, so thank you Earvin." 

Benjamin Toniutti, France captain: "We came back from hell, we suffered a lot in this match. I hope that this victory gave us a lot of relief, set us free and allow us to “re-enter” this tournament. We played a bit better, but it was not enough to finish the game as quickly as we wanted. Finally, we woke up and were able to win the match thanks to our substitute players. Even though Earvin Ngapeth is not ready physically, he was able to give us a lot of energy, which was very important for our group. I can say the same about Thibault Rossard and Barthélemy Chinenyeze, who entered the game at the end with a very good style."

Gido Vermeulen, The Netherlands coach: "I think that the game was spectacular for the viewers. We didn’t start well, but in the end we played very well. We had two match points so we had the victory in our hands. But unfortunately we didn’t use these chances. I didn’t see any weak points in the game. I just saw two teams fighting until the very end. It was rather a matter of good or bad luck."

Nimir Abdel-Aziz, The Netherlands opposite: "After losing our opening match against Turkey on Friday, this was the best reaction we could give. We played very well against France, currently the best team in the world. It's a shame we couldn't finish it off when we had the chance."

[VolleyRuller96 264]

Belgium 1-0 Netherlands (25-21)

Germany 1-0 Slovakia (25-18)

Bulgaria 1-0 Slovenia (25-22)

Serbia 1-0 Finland (25-20)

Edited August 28, 2017 by VolleyRuller96

[VolleyRuller96 264]

Slovakia and Slovenia fighting bravely  so far in set 2 against better teams

[VolleyRuller96 264]

 

Belgium 2-0 Netherlands (25-21)

Germany 2-0 Slovakia (26-24)

Bulgaria 2-0 Slovenia  (28-26)

Serbia 2-0 Finland  (25-18)

[Federer91 2,810]

I like Slovenia very much, but we need the win today!  They would most probably play better against Poland, than us, so i would gladly take the match against Finland. 

[VolleyRuller96 264]

11 minutes ago, Federer91 said:

I like Slovenia very much, but we need the win today!  They would most probably play better against Poland, than us, so i would gladly take the match against Finland. 

Well, after 2013 I am honestly terrified of playing against Bulgaria in 1/12 final, so I hope  will make a comeback

 

[Federer91 2,810]

5 minutes ago, VolleyRuller96 said:

Well, after 2013 I am honestly terrified of playing against Bulgaria in 1/12 final, so I hope  will make a comeback

 

 

Wait, you think Estonia will beat Poland tonight?!  Because if you beat Estonia, like expected, you would play Slovenia. 

[bestmen 2,827]

 what's happened to Slovenia they are the silver medalist of the last edition