First big surprise in Euro Volley! Bulgaria wins with title’s defender Serbia after thrilling five-set match. In Second game Czech Reublic beats Poland also after tiebreak.
SERBIA – BULGARIA 2-3 (25-23 25-13 22-25 28-30 13-15)
Line-ups and scores:
Serbia: Ognjenovic (8), Mihajlovic (14), Rasic (13), Brakocevic (23), Nikolic (11), Krsmanovic (13), Cebic (L) and Molnar (1)
Bulgaria: Kitipova (1), Rabadzhieva (10), Ruseva (12), E.Nikolova (18), Vasilieva (16), S.Filipova (20), M.Filipova (L) and D.Nikolova (1), Zarkova (2), Karakasheva, Nenova (1)
Bulgaria grabbed the early 2-0 lead but Serbia reacted strongly with a 4-0 run to turn te score to 4-2. In the early stages of the match both teams were obviously nervous making several mistakes in their offensive play. At the first time out Serbia took a small margin lead of 8-7. During the first half of the first set no team was able to extend its lead to more than 2 points showing the equal level of both teams at that stage of game. At the second technical time out Bulgaria lead the defending champion by 16-14 due to their good blocking gma. In a very close match up Serbia grabbed the first set using their second set point 25-23.
In the second set Serbia was the first team to create a six point lead at 12-6. Especially Jovana Brakocevic put great pressure ob the Bulgarian defence with her blasting serves. At the second technical time out Serbia exceeded its lead wth 6-0 run to 16-6. Bulgaria could not find an answer to the variable offensive power of Serbia that positioned its key player Brakocevic extremely well. After 22 minutes Serbia took second set 25-13.
After a dominating second set of Serbia Bulgaria came back fighting courageously keeping the game close at the first technical time out (8-7), even taking the lead after a 4-0 run after the time out (8-11). Now highly motivated to keep the run going, Bulgaria played superb volleyball exceeding its lead to 13-20. Elitsa Vasileva (BUL) contributed 6 points to a now powerful Bulgarian offence that played creatively confusing Serbians defence. On the other side, the Bulgarian defence found a better way to hold off the Serbian offence by claiming 6 block points. Although Serbia decreased the lead they could not stop its enthusiastic opponent who won the third set 22-25.
In the fourth set Serbia came out fighting hard taking an early lead of 8-4 at the first technical time out. Especially the offence looked very strong now and forced its opponent to quite a few unforced errors increasing the lead to 6 points at the second technical time out (16-10). Serbia kept this lead throughout most of the set. But in the end Bulgaria was on fire and able to put more pressure on the Serbian defence to turn around the game. An exciting game developed in the final stages of the match with continuously switching leads. In the end Bulgaria showed more heart winning the set with its 5th set point with result 28-30.
Bulgaria took the early initiative in tie break play leading 3-7. Serbia fought back closing the gap to a 1 point margin (8-9). Bulgaria fought bravely claiming the first surprise of the championship beating Serbia 13-15 in tie break winning 2-3 overall.
Team Stats:
ActionsSpike pointsSpike %BlockServeRec ExcRec PosErrorsSerbia6644%12643%63%24Bulgaria5845%20329%52%29
Team Leaders:
ActionsPointsSpike ptsSpike %BlockAceErrorsJovana Brakocevic232039%218Strashimira Filipova201365%703
CZECH REPUBLIC – POLAND 3-2 (24-26 25-21 25-21 24-26 15-12)
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Line-ups:
Czech Republic: Vincourova (3), Vanzurova (16), Plchotova (4), Havlickova (32), Kossanyiova (11), Monzoni (9), Jasova (L) and Dostalova, Hodanova, Pastulova (1), Mlejnkova
Poland: Radecka (4), Kasprzak (13), Kąkolewska (8), Skowrońska-Dolata (20), Sieczka (13), Efimienko (11), Maj (L) and Wołosz, Konieczna (6), Różycka (8), Kaczor (1)
In the first set the team from the Czech Republic took the first lead (6-3) taking advantage of quite nervous Polish players who had a few unforced errors early. Throughout the entire set the Czech ladies kept a small lead of not more than 3 points. However, in crunch time of the first set Poland turned the tables taking its first lead at 22-23 winning the set in 29 minutes 24-26. The Czech team struggled late in the set, especially in defensive play. Andrea Kossanyiova was the leading scorer with 6 points.
The second set started with a small margin of error on both sides. Both attacking players of Poland and the Czech Republic dominated this phase of the game with well placed spikes. At the first technical time out Poland was trailing its opponent by only one point (8-7). During this stage of the set no team could extend their lead until Czech’s Kossanyiova finished a well set ball to 18-16. The game stayed close until the end of the set when the Czech team took a 2-point lead (23-21) putting a lot of pressure on the Polish team. The Czech Republic finished strongly winning the second set 25-21 tying the game 1-1.
Poland started better into the third set taking the early lead (1-3) but the Czech team fought back keeping the game close at the first technical time out (8-7). After the time out the Czech ladies extended their lead with powerful offence, especially by their wing-spikers leading 16-11 at the second technical time out. Poland could not find a way to stop the good Czech offence, consequently the Czech team grabbed the third set (25-21). Michaela Monzoni became the key player for her team with 6 points.
Like the previous sets both teams were facing each other on an equal level with some advantages on the Czech side, leading at the first technical time out (8-6). After exhausting long rallies the better end was mostly on the Czech side leading by 5 points later in the set (19-14). Poland could close the gap and even turned the set around with a great fighting spirit to win it with their first set point (24-26).6
Tie break play stayed as close as the rest of the match until the Czech block accelerated in the end to grab the win after a marvellous marathon match (15-12).
Team Stats:
ActionsSpike pointsSpike %BlockServeRec ExcRec PosErrorsCzech Republic5643%101038%60%25Poland6239%121038%61%39
Team Leaders:
ActionsPointsSpike ptsSpike %BlockAceErrorsAneta Havlcikova322847%2211Katarzyna Skowrońska201834%1112