VolleyRuller96

Czech Republic really plays good against Germany so far Sadly Slovenia so far is pretty weak against Russia , although they seem to slowly gain composure. Also, there is pretty good chance I think to see a quarterfinal between :cze/Ger &

So many empty seats the whole tournament is low attended, to think some people criticicized Bulgaria and Italy 2 years ago...

Slovenia played really well against Russia last time, so they aren't without any chances today

Well, as far as I remember the playoffs and quarterfinals were always played in a single day since the start of this competition system

[hide] Knockout Round August 30th - September 3rd, 2017 12 Nations, Playoff Round, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Bronze Medal Match, Gold Medal Match Quarterfinals Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 August 31st 2017, h. 17:30, Tauron Arena, Kraków Serbia 3 1 Bulgaria August 31st 2017, h. 17:30, Spodek, Katowice Germany 3 0 Czech Republic August 31st 2017, h. 20:30, Tauron Arena, Kraków Russia 2 3 Slovenia August 31st 2017, h. 20:30, Spodek, Katowice Belgium 3 2 Italy [/hide]

We lost against Slovenia 81-90 . We only played decently the last quarter, we could have lost in a much higher margin.

This is just painful to watch

Sensational Czechs dethrone reigning European champs! Katowice, Poland, August 30, 2017. The Czech Republic dropped the biggest sensation of LOTTO EUROVOLLEY POLAND 2017 so far by knocking out the reigning 2015 European champions from further defending their title. The Czechs played a brilliant game to pull off a 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-21, 25-20) upset against France and set up a quarterfinal re-match with Germany on Thursday, at 17:30 local time. The schedule for the Quarter-Finals has been confirmed as: - Katowice 17:30 GER vs CZE / 20:30 BEL vs ITA - Krakow: 17:30 RUS vs SLO / 20:30 SRB vs BUL The two youngest players on the Czech starting line-up were on fire in the first set. With Donovan Dzavoronok acing twice and Michal Finger at 100% in attack, they scored six points each during the set to keep their team in control. Although France managed to wipe out a four-point Czech lead to catch up at 21-21, their opponent went for a brilliant finish with four in a row to close the set at 25-21. The French raised the level of their blocking in the second set taking some of the edge off of the Czech offence. Still, it was an even battle all through a 20-20 tie, but the conclusive moments of the set were all about the French squad, levelling the match with a 25-21 win. Stephen Boyer was hammering out one point after another in the third set, but his 10-point contribution did not suffice for France to win it. The Czechs were quick to cancel the three-point deficit they had shortly after the first technical time-out and take control. With Finger doing his magic in attack, they gained control and allowed the French to take a short-lasting lead on only two more occasions. In the final moments of the set, the Czech team was unstoppable until Finger put the ball on the floor to fix another 25-21 in the end. At 3-2 was the last time France were up on the scoreboard during the fourth set. Sensing the smell of success, the inspired Czechs throve on the many mistakes the French started to make to take the lead and gradually build it up to a 25-20 win. The great teamwork it took to win this set was best expressed by the numbers as the Czech Republic’s five players, other than the setter and the libero, scored exactly three points each to equally contribute to achieving their common goal. Stephen Boyer was the top scorer of the match with 20 points for France. Michal Finger scored 19 times to top the charts on the winning side, supported by Donovan Dzavoronok with another 15. Jénia Grebennikov, player of France: "We played very badly. We missed lots of chances to score a point. We missed serves and attacks and we were really awful at reception. We did not play like a team. Instead we played like individuals. That is why it was difficult for us to win this game. The Czech Republic did not play very well, but we were even worse. Unlike us, they played like a team.” Laurent Tillie, coach of France: "We played very unstable in all elements. It was so hard to see my team playing like that. The strength of this team is always the collective game. I did not see it in this game. It is a big pain for the whole team and all our fans." Michal Finger, player of Czech Republic: "Plan for tomorrow: do our best and repeat this score. It was a big surprise for us and I guess nobody expected it. Today we played really well and I got hope that we can repeat it tomorrow. Today we were very focused, not like before when we played with Germany. I hope we will continue at this level." Michal Nekola, coach of Czech Republic: "We played well in our last pool match against Italy and we showed an even better level against France. Of course, we felt respect for the current World League champions, but thought of it as a challenge to play a great team, rather than a difficult task."

Poland crash out of EuroVolley as Slovenia sweep hosts to set up quarter-final with Russia Kraków, Poland, August 30, 2017. LOTTO EUROVOLLEY POLAND 2017 hosts Poland crashed out at the play-off stage after being beaten in straight sets by Slovenia (25-21, 25-21, 25-19). The result means that Slobodan Kovač’s side will face Russia in their quarter-final at 17:30 on Thursday evening. Two years ago Slovenia beat Poland in the EuroVolley quarter-finals and here in Krakow it was once again they who ended the Polish dreams of a medal, to the huge disappointment of a massive crowd inside TAURON Arena. The start of the match was very tight but Bartosz Kurek’s serves helped Poland secure a 9-6 lead. Polish captain Michał Kubiak scored a couple of points to make it 11-8. Mitja Gasparini tied it up at 13-all and after getting their block in the right place, Slovenia led 15-14. They held on to the slight margin until Łukasz Kaczmarek scored to make it 21-20 in Poland’s favour. It was all the Poles could do in the period and after losing five consecutive points, Gasparini ended it at 25-21. Slovenia were clearly satisfied after winning their first close set in three matches and kept it going in the second, working well with their block and staying ahead by two points. They even managed to increase the lead to 12-9 with a triple block on Kubiak. There came a moment when the Polish block (mostly Bartłomiej Lemański and Kurek) pushed hard so the Poles got back to 15-15. Then the Slovenian captain Tine Urnaut showed some skills and his team bounced back to lead 20-16. It was simply too much of a deficit to overcome for Poland, who lost 25-21 after another Urnaut spike. In the final set the Slovenians started with more concentration, but they trailed 7-5 following a brilliant ace from Łukasz Kaczmarek. Mateusz Bieniek’s outlet Slovenia tie the score up at 8-all and from then onwards they stayed in touch with Poland, preventing them from building up a significant lead. Slovenia got themselves ahead at 13-11 after Jan Kozamernik’s spike and Alen Pajenk’s ace. The point series lasted even longer and during the second technical time-out the scoreboard showed a 16-11 lead in Slovenia’s favour. The end loomed for Poland and a duo of Slovenian aces made it 21-14. The dream quickly became a reality after Pajenk finished the set at 25-19. Alen Šket, Slovenia: “Poland are the world champions and the host team, so they played with big pressure. It was a straight-sets victory, but it’s just a result on paper. We had to fight very hard for every point. We could enjoy our game and have more fun on court showing how we can play.” Mitja Gasparini, Slovenia: “I think that we played very well and we pushed them really hard. They were fighting back really good and they were also pushing, but we broke them back. They didn’t have any more solutions, and the third set showed it perfectly. It doesn’t matter that it was 3-0, because it was not so easy to win, it was obviously a tough game and we are really tired now, feeling like you would have played a tie-break. We put everything into this game, because it’s an elimination match and you have to put everything in at this level. If you don’t do it, you won’t win.” Tine Urnaut, Slovenia captain: “We were more focussed than in previous games and it was most important. We started to play well and when we had our chances we used them in the first set and also in the second. We knew that if we use at least a half of chances which we have, it will be possible to win this match and this is how it was. The quarter-final against Russia will be a totally different match than the one in the in group phase, because the pressure was different, now it decides if you are out or in. We know that we can play well, we have to rest as much as we can and be totally focussed.” Slobodan Kovac, Slovenia coach: “For the first time during this tournament we showed our character. With Russia and Bulgaria in hot moments we didn’t play well, because in my opinion we were afraid of something. Afraid of some mistakes and today we finally everyone played showing character. We didn’t give Poland a chance to win. It’s extremely hard to defeat Poland on home soil, but we did it and I think that this is our great success. We were better in every element. In block, percentage of spike and even six aces. Poland have amazing fans who support them in every situation. We played fantasticly and achieved a great result. From one side I feel sorry for Poland, because it’s a pity for sport, because volleyball is a huge sport in Poland and everyone can see it. But from other side I am even more proud of my team. Tomorrow’s match it’s another game, for me it’s important to repeat a way they entered a court today, with this confidence and character, when this will happen also the result will come. No matter if you are doing something good or bad you have to do it with character. You have to try in every situation, I used to say if you don’t try, the result won’t come. Now we have positive energy, but we must immediately forget about tonight’s result to be ready to enter a court and fight tomorrow.” Mateusz Bieniek, Poland: “Each one of us could give something more to the team. Slovenia played a good game today – they showed their best side. I am very sad and I have no idea what caused this defeat, since the atmosphere among us has been great. It is hard to say anything positive at this stage.” Michał Kubiak, Poland captain: “We didn’t play well and the Slovenians were much better. I want to congratulate them. We generally played well in this tournament, no matter whom we faced – whether it was Estonia or Finland. I suppose that if it had been some other team, we would have won. Today we lacked this fire in our eyes, which has been propelling us during the group phase. Even when our serve was causing difficulties, Slovenia were able to receive perfectly and we had no solution at all for their serves.” Ferdinando de Giorgi, Poland coach: “It was a hard day for Poland. We had a big desire to win and play tomorrow against Russia. Slovenia played very well, we were not be able to change anything in this match. Our attitude especially in the attack was not good. There was a big difference in this element between us and Slovenia. From our team's side we lost against Serbia, but the next two games we played pretty good and built confidence. Today me and my players wanted to win, but we could not change the situation on the court. That was the biggest problem for us. I think there was not pressure, but our technical skills failed. I need to say thank you to my players and my staff. We worked hard during this season. Some teams find the chemistry inside the group, some needs more time to find the balance. We have to work for the future of volleyball and improve the game of the young players.”

Bulgaria set up quarter-final meeting with Serbia after coming from behind to beat Finland Kraków, Poland, August 30, 2017. After a pool phase full of emotions and drama, LOTTO EUROVOLLEY POLAND 2017 entered the play-off round and Bulgaria were the first team to seal their place in the last eight of the competition with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-11, 25-12) win against Finland in front of 3,561 spectators who had travelled to Tauron Arena from all over Europe and beyond. The schedule for the Quarter-Finals has been confirmed as: - Katowice 17:30 GER vs CZE / 20:30 BEL vs ITA - Krakow: 17:30 RUS vs SLO / 20:30 SRB vs BUL Bulgaria coach Plamen Konstantinov changed one of his outside spikers from the previous game, with Rozalin Penchev coming in for Todor Skrimov. At first, his team struggled with serving as they did against Slovenia, but good play in the middle gave them a two-point lead at 8-6. Bulgaria lost their focus though and let Finland edge ahead at 14-12. Then Tsvetan Sokolov came alive, spiking well to tie things at 15-all. However, the Finns were not intimidated and made it 20-17 in their favour after a huge miss by Sokolov, and eventually Viktor Yosifov’s fault from the service line finished the set at 25-23 for Finland. Finland started the second set well, but it was their opponents that had a slight advantage of 8-7 at the first technical time-out. After a Georgi Bratoev ace the difference reached five points at 12-7. The Bulgarians made less errors than before and it was enough for them to keep the upper hand until the second time-out. Then the margin began to fade away. It was as small as one following Niklas Seppänen’s kill (17-16), but Bulgaria held on to what was left and eventually reserve Rozalin Penchev’s spike ended it at 25-21. The third set was one-sided right from the start, with the Bulgarians racing ahead to an 8-2 scoreline. Their block finally showed its potential and Finland had trouble getting around it. Sokolov was on fire and led the charge and Todor Skrimov’s brace of aces gave Bulgaria a gigantic 10-point lead at 13-3. The Finns could not change anything after this and went down 25-11. The Bulgarians did not stop there. They led 6-1 in the fourth set due to their impeccable performance from the service line. The five-point margin stayed untouched, marking the considerable difference in level between the two teams. Even Bulgarian setter Bratoev was able to score a couple of points in attack. Towards the end Bulgaria cruised to victory and Velizar Chernokozhev ended the game at 25-13. Quotes Plamen Konstantinov, Bulgaria coach: “At this moment Finland are very young, They haven’t got too many experienced players, so I think that it is a normal result in this match. I’m maybe just a little surprised with how we started the match. We made a lot of mistakes, especially in serving. After the first set we found our serve, blocked well and our transition to attack was back so this result is normal. We are stronger.” Nikolay Penchev, outside hitter of Bulgaria: “We played very well. The first set was a little nervous for us, but everyone knows how important the game was for both teams. At the beginning we made a lot of mistakes, in the serve for example, but in the next sets we concentrated 100% and we played better.” Tuomas Sammelvuo, Finland coach: “I think that we came into the game like we had to, we had a very strong physical opponent, so we played very intelligently in attack, we were serving, defending and receiving well. The first two sets were like this, but later we started to lose the game – in serving and reception. “Bulgaria were a lot better in these elements and their attack was at a high level. After the beginning of the third set, we lost confidence and faith and I think it shouldn’t have happened. For me this tournament was a part of a big process, we have a pretty new team, we started with the World League last year, we qualified for this tournament and for the World Championship and now we are in the second round here. It’s a very good point to analyse why and what we should do more. It was like a journey and now we have to try to understand the current situation.” Sauli Sinkkonen, Finland: “It’s really hard to say why we lost. Bulgaria are a great team and we were able to play very well and very bad. The level is so high that you can’t win if you make mistakes as we did.” Elviss Krastins, Finland: “We came into the game with a lot of energy, we were focussed very well on the things we agreed. In the next sets we started to lose concentration, especially in reception.” Tommi Siirilä, Finland: “It’s really hard to say what happened in this match. Bulgaria are a good team. We had some ups and downs – sometimes we played really well and sometimes really bad. When the level is so high, it’s impossible to win when we perform this way.”

Italy “video challenge” their way into quarterfinal encounter with Belgium Katowice, Poland, August 30, 2017. Italy became the fifth team with a spot in the LOTTO EUROVOLLEY POLAND 2017 quarterfinals. In the first playoff fixture in Katowice, Gianlorenzo Blengini’s squad knocked out Turkey with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 31-29) shutout, finalised with a lot of video challenge drama at the end of the match. On Thursday, at 20:30 local time, the Italians will face Belgium in a battle for advancement to the semis. The schedule for the Quarter-Finals has been confirmed as: - Katowice 17:30 GER vs CZE / 20:30 BEL vs ITA - Krakow: 17:30 RUS vs SLO / 20:30 SRB vs BUL Outperforming the opponents from the serving line is what gave Italy a real edge in the first set. Simone Giannelli scored two aces as part of a five-point Italian run, which widened the gap to 17-10. This was a blow Turkey never recovered from. In the end, Daniele Mazzone threw in a serving point to shape up the team’s ace tally to five and close the set at an impressive 25-16. Turkey had a one-point lead at the first technical time-out of the second set, but after the break Italy rushed back with an amazing nine points in a row, with Mazzone behind the serving line. With Matteo Piano chipping in with five kill blocks and Luca Vettori keeping things hot in offence, there was no coming back for Turkey. Vettori’s spike stopped the clocks at 25-17 to double Italy’s lead. The Turks attempted a comeback in set 3 and were very close to it. Greatly improving their spiking and blocking effort, they piled up a four-point lead at 17-12 and later reached a triple set point at 24-21. A successful video challenge helped Italy stay alive and tie the score. Once again, the Turkish players raised their hands in victorious celebration moments later, but coach Blengini challenged the referee’s decision and, again, this kept his team in the set. Turkey’s coach Josko Milenkoski joined in on the video challenge duel and asked for one when the Italians reached match point, but to no avail. The drama continued through 31-29, when Oleg Antonov finally put the ball on the floor for the closing point of the match. Luca Vettori and Filippo Lanza led the scorers with 14 and 13 points, respectively, for Italy, while Metin Toy was Turkey’s top point contributor with 12. Oleg Antonov, player of Italy: "We believed in ourselves in this very difficult third set. Now we have to concentrate on tomorrow’s game with Belgium, which is going to be really difficult. We served very well. I believe that we were pretty good in reception too. Technically, we were not at our best, but we were prepared mentally for this game, as we played under a big pressure." Gianlorenzo Blengini, coach of Italy: "Obviously we are happy, because the victory was so important for the team and qualification for the quarterfinals was our goal. The third set was the most difficult one for us, because the Turkish team won several points in a row and we had to chase them. Luckily for us, we were able to win also the last set. Of course, the challenge system helped us very much. Today we used it in very important moments, but it is also helpful not only today as referees can stay calm and judge well in the crucial moments of the match." Murat Yenipazar, player of Turkey: "This game is… nothing to say. In the third set at the end it was because of our lack of experience. I congratulate the Italians. Now it is just the end for us, but it is OK - this is life and this is what Volleyball looks like. We have to move forward and change our mental preparation." Josko Milenkoski, coach of Turkey: "We started the match with big respect towards the Italian team. Perhaps we lacked enough confidence that we could win against the Olympic silver medallists. We had difficulties in reception, which eliminated our middle blockers from touching the ball often enough. We had big chances in the third set and I cannot remember how many sets we lost this way in the past. We had a few set points and who knows what would have happened from the fourth set. I think my team can still be satisfied with this result, as this is the best result Turkey ever achieved at the European Championship."

So... Poland vs Slovenia 2: the struggle Continues:D

So... when there are 32 teams in World cup, we should quality... Right?

Quarterfinals vs vs vs vs

Czech Republic 3:1 France (25-20)

Czech Republic 2-1 France (25-21) Slovenia 3-0 Poland (25-19)

Well what can I Say... "Szerokiej drogi, już czas..."

Honestly I would not be happy. Perhaps after defeat with Slovenia which lost against Russia and Bulgaria 0-3 PZPS will finally see we arek NOT good anymore and the team needs massive revamping, including Our "Star players" . If we win tonight and then lose against Russia 0-3 Nothing will change

Dear God, we will lose 0-3

Slovenia 2:0 Poland (25-21) France 1:1 Czech Republic (25-21)

Slovenia 1-0 Poland (25:21)

Czech Republic 1-0 France (25-21)

Hahaha yeah I actually want to reply on point but then I had to leave my tablet for a bit and when I return I did not notice this is not volleyball thread So on point nów I don't think they should allow e-sport at the OG Simply because tbh the definition of sport - for me is physical challenge. What next - Poker? Blackjack? Russian Roulette?

Already 8-6 at 1st technikal is a good sign

Bulgaria 3-1 Finland (25-12)