HELLENIC VOLLEYBALL FEDERATION

With action across all eight qualification pools of the 2018 CEV U17 Volleyball European Championship - Women taking place on Saturday, the fans all over the continent expected some answers about who will make the finals in Bulgaria in April. After Russia qualified on Friday, Serbia, Italy and Ukraine also joined them among the finalists.

In Saturday’s only match in the pool, Belgium shut out Sweden to set up a direct clash with hosts Romania, the other unbeaten team in the pool, on Sunday, which will determine who ends up first and who ends up second in the final standings.

The Belgians faced no serious issues on the way to a speedy shutout, allowing the opponents to score only 31 times overall across the three sets that lasted a total of 59 minutes. Pauline Martin contributed 10 points to Belgium’s win and was the only one on court to reach the double digits.

Another sold-out competition day in Bassano del Grappa marked the end of the battles in Pool B with hosts Italy defeating Poland and winning a spot at the European Championship finals unbeaten. The Polish girls ended up second preserving a slight shot at qualifying.

The first game of the day was quite one-sided and ended with a straight-set victory for Croatia over Austria. Natalia Tomić made a fantastic 26-point contribution to her squad’s success. The Croatian team finished the tournament in third place with four points leaving Austria behind without victories.

The last game of these three competition days, with the first place at stake, was the de facto final of the pool. Italy took four sets to outplay Poland and delight the home crowd with a pass for #EuroVolleyU17W in Bulgaria. Italy's Loveth Oghosasere Omoruyi and Alessia Bolzonetti led the game’s scorers with 20 and 19 points, respectively.

Andrzej Pec, coach of Poland: "Italy are a strong team. They have proven why they are the European champions. We have trained together for six months, but so many dynamics are still complicated. We have much to do. Congratulations to Italy!"

Michele Fanni, coach of Italy: "I think the girls’ reaction after the second set was fundamental. It is the best thing the girls have shown me today. We had made a very good start, exactly the way we had planned. Poland had good serving and we had troubles in reception, but we stayed strong and we did it!"

Pietro Bruno Cattaneo, president of Italy’s national federation: "For Italy this is an important year, because we will host the men's World Championship. But we also have a lot of expectations from the national teams of all categories."

While Slovenia achieved their second victory in Olomouc, positioning themselves well within reach of a spot in the finals, Spain managed to overpower hosts Czech Republic in five sets as both teams hope to book a ticket to Bulgaria.

The Slovenian team started their second match in Olomouc as the pre-favourites against Iceland and the scenario of the game did not deliver any surprises. During the match, Iceland were not able to handle the pressure from their opponents and that was why the duel ended after three sets with a quick and clear victory for Slovenia. Lorena Lorber Fijok top scored 10 points for Slovenia.

Boris Klokocovnik, coach of Slovenia: “The team of Iceland is technically a little low so for us today’s match was a mandatory win. Tomorrow we will play the decisive match for direct qualification to the European Championship.”

Daniele Capriotti, coach of Iceland: “The Slovenian team is playing very well and is not making many mistakes. We have to learn a lot from today and try to improve to another level.”

The Czech Republic started playing against Spain in a great home atmosphere, but it was their rivals who dominated the first set and won it by 25-11. The following part was not at all so straightforward, but the Spanish players finally took the set again. The Czechs improved their game in the third and the fourth sets to push the match into a tie-break. The dramatic duel at the end was managed better by the Spanish team, which emerged victorious. The match’s top scorer Raquel Montoro contributed 25 points to her side’s success.

Pascual Saurin, coach of Spain: “We played less nervously than yesterday. Both of our teams are at the same level and I am happy for today’s victory.”

Aleš Novák, coach of Czech Republic: “In the first two sets we were under pressure from Spain. I must say a big ‘thank you’ to our players for coming back and winning the following two sets. We can still qualify to the European Championship, but tomorrow we must win by 3-0 or 3-1.”

France beat Finland in four sets in the direct duel for the second place in the final standings in Pool D, which keeps the team in contention for a ticket to the finals in April.

France caught a flying start and easily established an 8-4 lead thanks to good serving by Léa Ackx. Using all their skills, Jenna Mustonen and Sanni Rantanen from Finland engaged in a battle to tie the score at 18-18. France made a series of spikes out of bounds and Finland ended up winning the set by 25-21. In the second set France earned an 8-1 margin with good blocking by Guewe Diouf and good spiking by Julie Henyo. Finland showed signs of improving with hits by Aino Ollonen, but France continued to dominate on the court. After the second technical time-out Finland lost concentration and served several times in the middle of the net as France jumped forward and won the set by 25-17. The third set started with French domination in all aspects of the game, but Finland continued to fight and decreased the sgap to 11-16 thanks to Arita Ternava. Poor reception and service from Finland helped France to a 25-15 win. The two teams clashed into the battle in the fourth set with a slight advantage for Finland at the first technical time-out due to a couple of French errors. Finland found more team spirit and went 16-11 ahead, but France found holes in the Finnish defence to tie at 20-20. Their blocking contributed to the eventual 25-21 at the end of the set and the match. 

Pertti Honkanen, coach of Finland: “It was a very nice game and the best team won the match. We should learn more because we have many things to analyse.”

Philippe Marta, coach of France: “It was a very good match. We had a lot of ups and downs in every set. However, we won the game.”

Julie Henyo, player of France: “This match was very difficult for us, but we won. We lost the first set, but managed to recover.”

Hosts Serbia won the direct duel with the Netherlands for the top of the final standings in Pool E and qualified for the finals in Sofia, leaving the Dutch in the runner-up position waiting to see how they do in record against the other second-placed teams.

In the last match at the #EurovolleyU17W qualifier in Ruma, hosts Serbia beat the Dutch in four sets after 103 minutes of play. Jovana Cvetkovic of Serbia topped the scorers’ charts with 16 points. Serbia started the match furiously, leading by 8-1 at the first technical time-out. It was a matter of routine for the home side to quickly wrap it up. In the second set Serbia got off to a good start leading by 5-1 and maintained that four-point advantage until 18-14. After that, the hosts allowed their rivals to score just three more points, finishing up at 25-18. The Dutch stroke back in the third, feeling focused and determined on the court. By the second technical time-out, the visitors were leading by 16-9, and Serbia could not recover. However, the home side returned strong in the fourth, going up 14-4 and sealing the match convincingly at 25-12. 

Eelco Beijl, coach of the Netherlands: “Serbia started well, with a lot of pressure and control of the game. I think the main reason we were losing, especially in the beginning of the sets, is the unforced errors on our side. Against such a good team you cannot afford making too many mistakes.”

Jovo Cakovic, coach of Serbia: “From the first day here in Ruma the girls were positive and with great attitude on the court. I congratulate them! They are a bunch of very talented players and certainly the future of our sport in Serbia.”

All Pool F action came under completion on Saturday in Cherkasy, with hosts Ukraine scoring their second victory, topping the final standings and earning a spot at the finals. Greece finished second on two points saving some hope of joining them in Bulgaria in April.

A serious battle between Ukraine and Latvia in this decisive match did not occur. For 69 minutes the Ukrainian girls dominated on the court and danced the victorious dance at the end. At the start of the first set Latvia managed to take a three-point lead, but the Ukranian players kept their cool gaining control with six points in a row. At 19-18 and 20-19 were the only other occurrences of a Latvian lead for the rest of the match. With lots of precision in attack and productive blocking, the home team cruised to a straight-set victory. Ukraine’s Veronika Zhukova was the best scorer of the match with 13 points.

Turkey and Hungary scored their second wins in Pool G setting up a direct duel against each other on Sunday for the first place in the pool, thus knocking Portugal and Slovakia out of contention.

In the first set the teams were close to each other until the second technical time-out, but after that the Turks took over the leading role and won the set by 25-17.  There was no question in the following two sets. The Turks won the second set by 25-14 and the third one by 25-12. They scored 16 aces towards the shutout. In the second set, one of the best players of the Turkish team, Melissa Ilona Biber, got injured.

Turkey’s coach Bülent Günes said that his team started the match badly, but they managed to improve and their play became better and better. They will now prepare for Sunday’s game against Hungary.

The head coach of Portugal, Manuel Almeida, said after the match that they played better than yesterday against Hungary, but the Turkish team is a very strong one.

In the first set the home team knocked out the Slovak girls with the great serves of Gréta Tatár and Liliána Berkó for 25-7. The second set brought a whole different play. The Slovaks led the score  during the whole set, but finally the Hungarian team managed to win by 26-24, after saving a triple set ball for the opponents. The third set brought a big struggle, but at the end of the set the Hungarian girls played with more self-confidence and won the set by 25-18. Fanni Vecsey scored 18 points for the winning side to top the charts.

The coach of Hungary, Gábor Kőnig, said that the girls showed that they did not know what is impossible; they deserved it. He felt during the whole match that they could win the game.

Marek Meriac, the coach of Slovakia, evaluated the match saying that the Hungarian team played very well and put pressure on the Slovak team. “The second set was good but they were not able to finish it.”

Germany and Belarus will determine the Pool H winner on Sunday in a direct duel between the two remaining unbeaten teams in the tournament in Kienbaum. Both of them scored three-point victories on Saturday to put their opponents out of contention.

Germany have yet to lose a set in Kienbaum after shutting out Israel in 73 minutes. The Israelis could not hold on to a five-point advantage they managed early in the first set, allowing the Germans to stay in control throughout the rest of the match. Sina Stöckmann scored 12 times for the home team to top the chart of the match.

Jens Tietböhl, coach of Germany: “We are happy with the result. It was important to get three points so that we still have the possibility to book a ticket to the European Championship. Tomorrow is going to be a tough challenge. But we will be well prepared.”

Ana German, coach of Israel: “Congratulations to Germany. We aren't really disappointed because we knew that the Germans are on a higher level than we are. Still, we should not make as many mistakes as we made today. Nevertheless, we are happy with our performance at this tournament. We did our best.”

Denmark managed to surprise their opponents by winning the first set and putting up quite a fight in the second and the third. Taking a 2-1 lead, the Belarusians cruised to a comfortable win in the fourth to close the match in their favour. With 23 points on her tally, Belarus’s Kseniya Liabiodkina became the best scorer of the game.

Dzmitry Kot, coach of Belarus: ”It was a great match. It was difficult for us, because the girls were very nervous. The Danish team surprised us; they did really well. But we are happy with the win.”

Mats Olof Björkman, coach of Denmark: “I am very proud of my girls. It is hard to go into a match after two losses. Belarus are a very good team; they are the number four in Europe. However, we played almost three sets at our top level. In the last set, there was no energy left.”