Men's Volleyball CEV Under 18 European Championship 2018

[VolleyRuller96 264]

DAY II SCHEDULE

POOL A in Zlin ,  CZECH REPUBLIC

  Greece 3-1  Turkey

(19-25/ 25-22 / 26-24 /25-17)
  Czech Republic 2-3  Bulgaria

(19-25 / 25-21 / 18-25 / 25-18 / 9-15)
  Belarus  1-3  Germany

(25-19 / 29-31 / 25-19 / 25-19)

 

POOL B in Puchov  SLOVAKIA

 

 Russia 1-3  Italy

(20-25 / 25-17 / 21-25 / 23-25)

  Slovakia 0-3  France

(17-25 / 21-25 / 24-26)

  Belgium 3-0  Ukraine

(25-17 / 25-20 / 25-14)

[VolleyRuller96 264]

Greece and Bulgaria claim their first victories, while Germany remains unbeaten in Zlín 

 

 

Zlín, Czech Republic, April 8, 2018. After an unsuccessful start to the 2018 CEV U18 Volleyball European Championship - Men, Greece and Bulgaria managed to record their first wins over Turkey (3-1) and hosts Czech Republic (3-2), respectively. Germany becomes the pool leader with two wins in as many matches following their 3-1 dispatch of Belarus. 

Live streaming of all matches is available here.

 

Greece vs. Turkey 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 26-24, 25-17)

Although Turkey was in the lead for the whole duration of the first set, you could really feel in the monster blocks and some incredible kills that the Greeks had what it took to break the game in their favour. And that is exactly what they did in the later sets, in fact Greece claimed the third set rather miraculously after being behind Turkey, but still managing to get to 24-24 and taking the set home two points later. After this, the fourth set was completely dominated by the Greeks and they were able to claim their first victory of the final round of this championship.

Stefanos Nanas, head coach of Greece recalled the match against the Czechs: "I told the guys yesterday, that the game we played was not Greece. That was another team. We relaxed last night and we discussed all our problems and set a goal that the match today would be much better. It is a big satisfaction to beat Turkey, because twice we lost 2-3 against them in the past. It is a big day for us, we must rest now for the game tomorrow with Bulgaria. The tournament has just started for us."

His colleague Hüseyin Düzceler from Turkey was sad to see the final result on the table: "We showed our worst game throughout the whole match and that is the reason, why we lost. We won yesterday and we hoped that we were going to play very well today, but we are very sad about how the game went."

Czech Republic vs. Bulgaria 2-3 (19-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-18, 9-15) 

After losing the first set the home walls and fans that have gathered here in Zlin helped the Czechs recover, but the confident youngsters that won their opening game against Greece were nowhere to be found. Bulgaria used this to their advantage, especially in the last set, where they left no options for their opponents, as the Balkan team grew their lead point by point.

Plamen Hristov, head coach of the winning team confirmed they had reached their goal: "The most important thing was the victory today and we wanted to achieve it no matter what. Our players did not play as good as they could. This pool will be the pool of unexpected results and I hope the best for us is yet to come." 
 
Czech coach Jiří Zach was able to recap the game perfectly: "Bulgaria played in a different way than they played yesterday against Germany. They did not make mistakes and played with good strength. We adapted to their style of play in the end. It seemed that when one of the teams reached 12 points, this team won the set. We were not able to serve hard in the whole match, we had no aces. The Bulgarians made their side-out easy and we did not. The fifth set was decided immediately at the beginning with our two reception mistakes. Bulgaria served really hard today and created big pressure on our reception and we did not handle this pressure in the tie-break."

Germany vs. Belarus 3-1 (25-19, 29-31, 25-19, 25-19)

The final match of the day in Zlín proved to be an exciting one as both teams showed they wanted to be victorious. Germany claimed an easy win in the first set, the second came with some old-school volleyball showed by Belarus as they jumped high, hit hard, and held the lead for most of the set, but managed to seal the deal only after five set points at 31-29. After this, Germany continued their road to victory, won the remaining two sets, and took the lead of Pool I as the only team, who has won both of their games this far.

Matus Kalny, head coach of Germany, was proud of his whole team: "Today we saw, how important the bench is, because three players, which came into our game later on, brought another spirit. Again, we played quite well in defense, it was not such a good day for our attack, but the three substitutes really helped the team and we won."

 

Coach Aliaksei Kavaliou of the opposite team admitted: "Good match, good players. It was a hard game for the German team and also for us. We made a lot of mistakes and that is why we lost the match today."

The games will continue with the pool play tomorrow and eventually reach the climax on April 15, when the champions will be crowned.

 

 

[VolleyRuller96 264]

Italy, Belgium and France most successful on second day of #EuroVolleyU18M in Púchov 

 

 

Púchov, Slovakia, April 8, 2018. Italy and Belgium continued their winning streak, as they beat Russia (3-1) and Ukraine (3-0), respectively while France claimed their first victory routing co-hosts Slovakia (3-0) on the second competition day of the 2018 CEV U18 Volleyball European Championship - Men in Púchov. 

Live streaming of all matches is available here.

 

Italy vs. Russia 3-1 (25-20, 17-25, 25-21, 25-23)

The young players from the Italian penisula dictated the tempo of the opening set and eventually of the whole game as well. Their Russian opponents managed to improve their serve and block and that helped them win the second set, but not change the course of the match. Their last effort was a successful comeback from 15-20 to 22-23 late in the fourth, but Italy took the set from their hands with 25-23.

 

Tommaso Stefani from Italy was uplifted: "It was a difficult match, Russia is very strong, much stronger than last summer, when we played against them during the U17 European Championship in Turkey. I even lost my voice today, we had a lot of fun on the court and I think tomorrow we will be even better. The key to the victory was that we are a really very good group, good friends and we have one goal." Tommaso was also the best scorer of his team for the second day in a row, but he keeps it cool: "I do not follow my points, this is not important for me. Important is the success of the team, this is what I am looking for."

 

Coach Mikhail Nikolaev from Russia was a man of few words after the game: "Our serve was not ok and our setter felt nervous today. I need to think before the match tomorrow, what I will do with the team."

France vs. Slovakia 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 26-24)

The Slovak team started the match with confidence, even maintaining the lead at 8-3, but as France started to attack better, the results leveled, but the ending of this set, as well as the ones that followed, belonged to France. Slovakia managed to show a good game, but something was missing as the Slovaks just could not seal the deal, even missing two set-balls and losing at 24-26 in the third and final set.

 

Ibrahim Lawani, outside hitter from France scored 20 points today: "This was the best answer after yesterday's loss against Belgium. We are still in the competition and we are going step by step."

 

Erik Gabor, coach of the Slovaks agreed that his team could use a little luck: "We can play good volleyball against every opponent, but our problem is that we make mistakes in the final moments of the set. We had problems with reception in the first set and we could not attack through the middle. In the end it was about one ball that decided everything, it is a pity."

Ukraine vs. Belgium 0-3 (17-25, 20-25, 14-25)

Belgium had a nervous start, but five aces in the first set were the recipe of their success also later in the game. The second and third sets came easily to the team, as Ukraine did not manage to show notable resistance. As the game ended, Belgium had recorded 13 aces, whilst Ukraine managed only two.

 

Hryhorii Tsupin, opposite hitter from Ukraine: "We started well, but we still lost the first two sets. We got very disappointed and then the result in the third set was how it was."

 

Mieke Moyaert of Belgium was happy about their success, but also eager about their next pool match: "We served very well, only in the second set, we made few mistakes, but the team fought and my players followed the game plan. We played smart and tried to find solutions against their big middle-blocker. I am happy, because we have two victories and maximum points after two games. Tomorrow we will meet Italy, it will be an interesting game and also a re-match of last year's gold medal match in the U17 European Championship. We lost that time and we are motivated to show them that we have grown from last year."

 

The games will continue with the pool play tomorrow and reach the climax in Zlin, Czech Republic, where the eventual champions will be crowned on April 15.

[VolleyRuller96 264]

GROUP STAGE STANDINGS 

AFTER DAY I

GROUP A

 

	Country	PTS	SETS
1	GERMANY	6	6:1
2	CZECH REPUBLIC	4	5:3
3	TURKEY	3	4:4
4	GREECE	3	3:4
5	BULGARIA	2	3:5
6	BELARUS	0	2:6

GROUP B

 

 

 

	Country	Points	Sets
1.	BELGIUM	6	6:1
2.	ITALY	6	6:1
3.	RUSSIA	3	4:3
4	FRANCE	3	4:3
5.	UKRAINE	0	0:6
6.	SLOVAKIA	0	0:6

 

TOP 2 TEAMS QUALIFY TO SEMIFINALS
3RD and 4TH QUALIFY TO 5-8 PLACES PLAYOFFS
Overall TOP 6 TEAMS Qualify to U19 World Championship 2019

[VolleyRuller96 264]

DAY III SCHEDULE

POOL A in Zlin ,  CZECH REPUBLIC

 

https://www.laola1.tv/en-int/livestream/volleyball-cev-u18-europameisterschaft-maenner-cr-2018-04-09-len

 

ALL TIMES ARE CEST (GMT + 2)

15:00  Greece -  Bulgaria 
17:30  Czech Republic -  Belarus
20:00 Turkey  -  Germany

 

POOL B in Puchov  SLOVAKIA

 

LIVE STREAMING:  http://www.laola1.tv/en-int/livestream/volleyball-cev-u18-europameisterschaft-maenner-svk-2018-04-09-len


ALL TIMES ARE CEST (GMT + 2)

15:00 Russia - France

17:30  Slovakia - Ukraine 

20:00  Belgium -: Italy

 

[Gianlu33 4,546]

Again a 3-0 for our guys  

[VolleyRuller96 264]

DAY III RESULTS

 

POOL A in Zlin ,  CZECH REPUBLIC

 

 Greece 2-3  Bulgaria 

(25-22 / 19-25 /24-26 / 25-22 / 13-15)
 Czech Republic 3-2  Belarus

(22-25 / 25-21 / 25-20 / 16-25 / 18-16) 
 Turkey  2-3  Germany

(17-25 / 22-25 / 25-17 / 25-19 / 16-18)

 

POOL B in Puchov  SLOVAKIA

 Russia 3-0 : France

(25-19 / 25-15 / 25-20)

  Slovakia 2-3  Ukraine 

(16-25 / 26-28 / 25-20 / 27-25 / 11-15)

  Belgium 0-3  Italy

(18-25 / 23-25 /18-25)

[VolleyRuller96 264]

Russia and Ukraine grab wins in Puchov as #EuroVolleyU18M progresses, Italy remain unbeaten 

 

 

Púchov, Slovakia, April 9, 2018. Russia opened the third day of action in Pool II of the #EuroVolleyU18M with a victory in straight sets (3-0) against France, Ukraine upset the local heroes from Slovakia to claim their first win (3-2), before Italy cruised past Belgium (3-0) in a repeat of the 2017 U17 European Championship gold medal match. 

Live streaming of all matches is available here.

Russia vs. France 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-20)

Russia showed their best performance in their third pool match, as they dominated in block, serves and attacks and collected point after point. The first part of the opening set was close, but the third one was the tightest as France managed to improve their game, especially in defense, minimized the errors and was in the lead 18-16. But Russia levelled the score to 18 thanks to the block of Stanislav Antonov. The late stages of the match were under the control of the Russians, who won the last set 25-20 and claimed their second victory in Puchov.

Omar Kurbanov has been leading the statistics board for his team in Púchov and he tallied up another 18 points in this game: "It was a very important match for us, because yesterday we lost. France was strong, but we showed a very good performance in attack and block. We enjoyed today's game and we are happy with the three points."

 

Coach Fabien Roy from team France knew, why his team could not succeed: "The problem was confidence today. It was 10-10, 20-20 and then we could not finish the set. The Russian team is strong, but now we have to make a good training during the free day tomorrow and prepare well for the matchup with Ukraine."

Slovakia vs. Ukraine 2-3 (16-25, 26-28, 25-20, 27-25, 11-15)

The first set was under the control of the Ukrainians, as the hosts made a lot of mistakes and their opponents capitalised on these. Ukraine rushed to a 10-3 lead in the second set, but Slovakia improved their attack, minimised errors and Michal Zeman leveled the score to 12-12 with a block. There was a battle for every point later in the set, in the final moments Slovakia came back from 21-23, but Ukraine finally won 28-26.  Slovakia was better in the third set, leading from the start to finish and could celebrate winning their first set in the championship. Slovakia came back from a 15-18 deficit in the fourth set and won 27-25 in dramatic fashion, but Ukraine finally won the last set 15-11 and celebrated their first victory in Puchov.

 

The coach of the local team Erik Gabor shared: "It was an important game for us, because a victory could have kept us in contention for a spot to qualify to Zlín. We had problems in reception in the first set, I made some changes in the lineup and we managed to improve our game. The third and fourth sets were good from our side, but Ukraine has more experience from tough matches and they used it in the tiebreak."

 

Sergiy Skrypka, coach of Ukraine, was strict even after the win: "I am satisfied with the result, but not with our performance. In the second half of the match, we made a lot of mistakes and the Slovak team used that to their advantage. On this level it is always like this. We have to make less own mistakes in the next matches."

Belgium vs. Italy 0-3 (18-25, 23-25, 18-25)

The last Monday match in Púchov was a battle of two undefeated teams in Pool II. The start of the game was very tight up until the second technical timeout (16-14 for Italy), after that the Italians dominated mainly in their attacks and took the first set home. The match remained dramatic in the second set, as Belgium was back in the game, leading at the second technical time-out 16-14, but Italy managed a comeback, as the Belgians lost their luck by the end of the set. The Italians started pushing their game from the very beginning of the third and thus won in straight sets.

 

Mieke Moyaert, who is the only female head coach at the final stage of the #EuroVolleyU18M had to admit: "Today we did not put any pressure. When we had chances, we did not make points. Maybe we deserved to win the second set. Now the match finished and we have one day to clean our heads, have a good training and continue with our game."

 

Italian setter Paolo Porro also stressed that the team is looking forward to the rest day tomorrow: "We are happy that we beat a strong team like Belgium is, but every game is important for us. Our goal is to win all matches here. We played very well, we were concentrated and we put them under pressure."

 

The games will resume on Wednesday with the pool play and reach the climax in Zlin, Czech Republic, where the eventual champions will be crowned on April 15.

[VolleyRuller96 264]

Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Germany seize victories in 5 set games in Pool I of #EuroVolleyU18M 

 

 

Zlín, Czech Republic, April 9, 2018. All games on the third competition day of the #EuroVolleyU18M in Zlin were played in five sets as Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Germany seized victories over Greece, Belarus and Turkey respectively. Germany have a perfect record of three wins in as many matches - the only side to have achieved this feat in Pool I. 

Live streaming of all matches is available here.

Bulgaria vs. Greece 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 26-24, 22-25, 15-13)

As both teams of Pool I won their games yesterday, they wanted to keep the winning streak alive. Bulgaria looked better in the first set, but Greece managed an upset as they took the lead after 20-20 and later won 25-22. For the upcoming sets, the team, who managed to take the lead early in the set, were victorious. The tiebreaker, however, was the set of emotions and unforced errors, in which Bulgaria was more successful.

Bulgarian libero Simeon Dobrev, who seems to be the keeper of the team spirit, shared: "It was a really hard match, but the European Championship for us has only started. We will play better, in my opinion, in next matches. Our goal is to play in the finals and definitely to have medal, so we need to be confident."

After the game the coach of the Greeks Stefanos Nanas admitted: "It was very important for us to look into the eyes of our opponent. That was our first step. In the end of the third and fifth sets we did mistakes and that is not the way, how we can play against Bulgaria. But to play a tiebreak with a country, which has so many players on the World volleyball scene, is a good thing. We took one point and we will see chat will happen against Germany and Belarus."

Belarus vs. Czech Republic 2-3 (25-22, 21-25, 20-25, 25-16, 16-18)

Since Czech Republic is the 2017 CEV U19 European champion, there is an obvious pressure on the local team here in Zlín to continue the legacy, as the age groups were shifted and from this year on, boys will compete for the U18 title instead of U19. In this game their opponents were the Belarussians, who have been bold about their high ambitions in this championship, but still haven't recorded any wins. In result the statistics for this game are rather peculiar, with one team showing clear dominance in the first three sets. Team Belarus managed to change the course of the fourth set in their favour and move the game into a tiebreak. The final set kept the spectators on their feet, as the rallies were really intense, the support helped the Czechs take the set and game after two unsuccessful match balls for Belarus.

Anton Sushynski, the setter and captain of Belarus played a key role in the events late in the fourth set: "Both teams do not have a lot of experience. We fought until the end, but Czech Republic had more chances."

Head coach of the Czechs Jiří Zach: "We started really badly. All the teams play against us better, because of  the crowd and the atmosphere here. In the fourth set we were up 9-6 and afterwards number 14 (Yauheni Hretski) served well and we could not get out of this situation. Suddenly we got scared, but they started to defend very well. The fifth set was more like a fight of who will be more patient and lucky. This match keeps us in the fight for a position among the top four of this tournament."

Turkey vs. Germany 2-3 (17-25, 22-25, 25-17, 25-19, 16-18)

The final match of the day followed the Pool I traditions and was a display of fine volleyball in five sets. From the first points the teams took care of good team spirit, support from the bench and were selfless by running into the advertisement banners to save the balls whenever needed. The first set passed as Germany desired, in the second both teams took turns in leading, but Germany proved to be successful once again. In the following sets Turkey managed to mobilise their strengths and bring the game into a tiebreak. The fifth set was a tight one and eventually the team that could keep their head cool won.

Hüseyin Düzceler, coach of Turkey, could see the silver lining after the loss: "This game was very important to us and I am really sorry that we lost. But the tiebreak is nothing bad, we still won one point. I hope that we win the next two games taking three points and this point will be important too in the end."

His colleague from Germany Matus Kalny: "This match had two parts. Until 2-0 we played very well, our volleyball, but afterwards we stopped to serve properly and our opponent used it against us. When they receive, they have very good attack. In the fifth set we came back to our game and started to serve well again. We were luckier as both teams had match balls."

The games will resume on Wednesday with the pool play and reach the climax on April 15 when the eventual champions will be crowned in Zlin.

Tickets to attend the matches of #EuroVolleyU18M in Zlin are available on Ticketportal. The price for a daily ticket in the pool stage stands at 50 CZK, while tickets for the semi-finals and medal matches cost 100 CZK (approximately € 2 and 4, respectively). The price for a ticket valid for the whole tournament is 300 CZK (about € 12). Children and teenagers until 16 years of age enjoy free entrance to the tournament. Tickets are available for purchase here.

[VolleyRuller96 264]

GROUP STAGE STANDINGS 

AFTER DAY III

GROUP A

 

	Country	PTS	SETS
1	GERMANY	8	9:3
2	CZECH REPUBLIC	6	8:5
3	BULGARIA	4	6:7
4	TURKEY	4	6:7
5	GREECE	4	5:7
6	BELARUS	1	4:9

GROUP B

 

 

 

	Country	Points	Sets
1.	ITALY	9	9:1
2.	RUSSIA	6	7:3
3:	BELGIUM	6	6:4
4	FRANCE	3	4:6
5.	UKRAINE	2	3:8
6.	SLOVAKIA	1	2:9

 

TOP 2 TEAMS QUALIFY TO SEMIFINALS
3RD and 4TH QUALIFY TO 5-8 PLACES PLAYOFFS
Overall TOP 6 TEAMS Qualify to U19 World Championship 2019