Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Ukraine stamp tickets to #EuroVolleyU18M finals
With Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece and Ukraine securing their spots in the Final Round of the 2018 CEV U18 Volleyball European Championship - Men on Sunday, the 12-strong line-up for April’s tournament in the Czech Republic and Slovakia is now complete. In addition to the two host countries, Belarus, Italy, Russia and Turkey had already qualified for the finals before the last day of qualifications, which featured action in four of the pools.
Pool A - RENTIS (GRE)
With the very first result of the day it was all clear. Hosts Greece would top the final standings and qualify for #EuroVolleyU18M. Portugal would finish second, but without a chance of making the finals as one of the best three pool runners-up. Still, the Greek team went ahead and shut out Spain in the last match. They return to the finals of the competition for the first time in seven years and third time overall.
Portugal vs. Latvia 3-1 (25-21, 25-21, 13-25, 25-15)
Portugal stunned Latvia in four sets to finish second in Pool A - though just not enough to see themselves through to the finals of the competition. However, the win was widely rejoiced by players and staff, as Marco Sampaio once again led Portugal to triumph, scoring 23 points - including three of his team's four blocks and a kill ratio of 51% in attack.
Nuno Pereira, coach of Portugal: "I am very happy for our win today, despite the fact that we did not play our best in serving and receiving. I am extremely satisfied by our performance over the last three days in Greece."
Spain vs. Greece 0-3 (19-25, 21-25, 18-25)
Greece completed Pool A action with a straight-set sweep of winless Spain to finish top of the pack, undefeated. Dimitrios Mouchlias once again led the scoring for the home side, bagging 19 points - but with Greece already qualified even before the game, coach Stefanos Nanas gave court time to every single one of his players, as his team overwhelmed Spain in blocking with 14 stuffs (7 alone by Theodoros Dordokidis).
Stefanos Nanas, coach of Greece: "All the hard work we put in during the last weeks paid off and was evident since the first day of this competition. This team has huge capabilities and deserves to be amongst the elite of European Volleyball."
Pool D - PLOIESTI (ROU)
Belarus had already secured the first place in the pool on the day before. Just before the last match in Ploiesti, between Serbia and Romania, only the hosts had a distant shot at qualifying as one of the best runners-up, but they failed to take advantage.
Serbia vs. Romania 3-1 (25-20, 25-17, 22-25, 25-21)
Serbia beat Romania in four sets in a head-to-head clash for the second place in Pool D, but neither team will be making the trip to the finals. Based on the results in other pools, the Serbs could not have made it even with a 3-0 win and as soon as they won the first set, the Romanians also dropped out of contention. Serbia’s Alija Bekric was the top scorer of the match with 17 points. His teammate Ognjen Niketic and Romania’s Michael Christian Salatioan came next with 12 points each.
Pool E - SOFIA (BUL)
In the direct battle for the first place in Pool E Bulgaria beat France to secure a place in the Final Round of #EuroVolleyU18M. However, the French will also be travelling to the Czech Republic and Slovakia as one of the three best-ranked pool runners-up.
Netherlands vs. Sweden 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-17)
The Netherlands beat Sweden in straight sets and claimed their first and only victory of the U18 men’s qualifier in Sofia. Martijn Brilhuis finished as the top scorer with 14 points. Jasper Wijkstra added 9 points for the winners. On Sweden’s side, Jonatan Hellvig and Max Petersson scored 12 points apiece.
Arnold van Ree, coach of the Netherlands: “We did our job. It was a little bit difficult for the guys to get focused on this game, because our main goal was to qualify for the final round. We failed, but today my players had to focus on the last match and finish this tournament with a victory. I can be happy with the performance of my team today.”
Oskar Jönsson Vikterlöf, coach of Sweden: “It was not our best game. My players were motivated to achieve a little bit better result against the Netherlands, but we made some mistakes and did not manage to show our best level. If we want to have a chance against such a strong team, we must do our best. We did not and this is the reason for this result.”
France vs. Bulgaria 0-3 (20-25, 20-25, 24-26)
In the last match in Sofia, hosts Bulgaria shut out France to top the table in Pool E. Bulgaria’s Denis Karyagin finished as the game’s top scorer with 17 points. Samuil Valchinov added 16 points for the home side. Mateo Lapierre was France’s most prolific player with 11 points.
Fabien Roy, coach of France: “We are really disappointed with this result. Bulgaria played really well in serving and blocking. We struggled, but my guys played with heart for every single point and I am proud of them. Now we will wait for the end of the other matches and I hope to qualify for the finals as one of the best second-placed teams.”
Plamen Hristov, coach of Bulgaria: “I am really happy for my players. They proved the great potential that they have. We started to work on December 15 and we completed our mission. Now I hope to have more time for preparation and to play for the medals at #EuroVolleyU18M.”
Pool G - KIENBAUM (GER)
Before the decisive match for the first place between Belgium and Germany had even started it became clear that both teams would be travelling to Zlin or Puchov for the finals, regardless of the outcome. Belgium won and qualified as a pool winners, while Germany filled in one of the three runner-up quota.
Austria vs. Estonia 0-3 (22-25, 28-30, 17-25)
Estonia will not leave Germany empty-handed. After two losses in the previous games, the Estonians managed to take their first win – a straight-setter against Austria. Rasmus Meius led the scorers with 16 points for the winners. His team finished the tournament in third place with three points, leaving Austria behind without victories.
Sebastian Tatra, coach of Austria: “Today we performed quite well in two of the sets. It is a pity that it was not enough to win one. We knew that we were the underdogs. The tournament proved that. Nevertheless, we did our best.”
Toomas Jasmin, coach of Estonia: “The tournament went the way we expected. There are two very strong teams, Germany and Belgium, and two weaker teams, us and Austria. We would be happier if we had won one set each against Belgium and Germany. But we played without our usual opposites. I hope that we can do better next time.”
Belgium vs. Germany 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-20)
Belgium remained unbeaten and got the direct ticket to #EuroVolleyU18M! In the last match of the qualifications, they accomplished a four-set victory over Germany to claim their third win out of three matches. Germany’s Simon Pfretzschner topped the scorers’ charts of the match with 20 points, trailed by Belgium’s Joost Peeters with 19.
Mieke Moyaert, coach of Belgium: “I am so happy. Today’s match was our best performance of the tournament. The boys showed that they are great team, which works hard and sticks to game plans. We proved, that you don’t have to be tall to play Volleyball.”
Matus Kalny, coach of Germany: “We played well in the first set. Afterwards, the defence of Belgium decided the game. But I am not going to complain, we are qualified!”
