Greece and France confirm face-off for ticket to #EuroVolleyU19W
Panorama, Thessaloniki, Greece, 9 April 2022 - France and Greece advanced to 2-0 on Day 2, Saturday, of Qualification Pool at the #EuroVolleyU19W and confirmed a head-to-head confrontation on the closing day Sunday for a direct ticket to the final phase.
Latvia's Junora Vagele rose from the middle unchallenged and pounded the ball on the floor to finish an epic first set, but France reacted immediately and turned the match around for a 3-1 (31-33, 25-20, 25-11, 25-17) win that keeps them undefeated.
France had a total of eight set points to take the early lead, but Latvia were first on the finish line after three of their own in the first set. And in the third, France broke away after 6-6 with an incredible 18-3 run to go 24-9 up.
Maeva Schalk led France with a match high of 17 points, with Clara Bal adding another 15, as Latvia struggled to control their opoonents' serving which produced a total of 13 aces - five from Nora Legrand alone. The enhancement of reception on the other side, with libero Julia Casadei improving her efficiency compared to the first set, was also key to turning the match around.
For a match in such an age group, I'm not surprised about the first set," said Farbrice Vial, the head coach of France. "The girls were stressed, because they wanted this win so much. I'm happy about the way we reacted, but this must not happen again tomorrow against Greece."
"France may have not expected the match to start the way it did in the first set, but our energy only lasted for two sets and France improved to beat us - though I'm still satisfied by our performance," said Latvia head coach Ilmars Pulins after the game.
Greece followed up with 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-19) sweep of Israel to close the day and retain a perfect record
Some rather poor attacking efficiency by Greece in the second set allowed plucky Israel, who fought for every ball, a 14-8 lead - though that was eventually taken care of with a few multi-point runs.
With quite a few of the reserves on court, Greece reached 24-13 but lacked the abilty to finish the game there as Israel cancelled six of the home side's eleven match points before an unforced error on a free ball brought it all to an end.
Marta Anthouli was once again top scorer with 22 points and though Greece was generally dominant across most skills, Israel outblocked the hosts 7 (three by Michal Benaim) to 5.
"Despite the fact that we did not play as well as I expected, I still had confidence in my team," said head coach of Greece Anestis Giannakopoulos. "We did what we had to do and now we're ready to take on France for direct qualification to the finals".
The tournament concludes Saturday with Latvia taking on Israel, followed by the deciding match between Greece and France for one direct place in the final phase of #EuroVolleyU19W, later this year in North Macedonia - though the loser of this game also gets another chance for the finals through Round 3 of the qualifiers.
Latvia's Junora Vagele rose from the middle unchallenged and pounded the ball on the floor to finish an epic first set, but France reacted immediately and turned the match around for a 3-1 (31-33, 25-20, 25-11, 25-17) win that keeps them undefeated.
France had a total of eight set points to take the early lead, but Latvia were first on the finish line after three of their own in the first set. And in the third, France broke away after 6-6 with an incredible 18-3 run to go 24-9 up.
Maeva Schalk led France with a match high of 17 points, with Clara Bal adding another 15, as Latvia struggled to control their opoonents' serving which produced a total of 13 aces - five from Nora Legrand alone. The enhancement of reception on the other side, with libero Julia Casadei improving her efficiency compared to the first set, was also key to turning the match around.
For a match in such an age group, I'm not surprised about the first set," said Farbrice Vial, the head coach of France. "The girls were stressed, because they wanted this win so much. I'm happy about the way we reacted, but this must not happen again tomorrow against Greece."
"France may have not expected the match to start the way it did in the first set, but our energy only lasted for two sets and France improved to beat us - though I'm still satisfied by our performance," said Latvia head coach Ilmars Pulins after the game.
Greece followed up with 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-19) sweep of Israel to close the day and retain a perfect record
Some rather poor attacking efficiency by Greece in the second set allowed plucky Israel, who fought for every ball, a 14-8 lead - though that was eventually taken care of with a few multi-point runs.
With quite a few of the reserves on court, Greece reached 24-13 but lacked the abilty to finish the game there as Israel cancelled six of the home side's eleven match points before an unforced error on a free ball brought it all to an end.
Marta Anthouli was once again top scorer with 22 points and though Greece was generally dominant across most skills, Israel outblocked the hosts 7 (three by Michal Benaim) to 5.
"Despite the fact that we did not play as well as I expected, I still had confidence in my team," said head coach of Greece Anestis Giannakopoulos. "We did what we had to do and now we're ready to take on France for direct qualification to the finals".
The tournament concludes Saturday with Latvia taking on Israel, followed by the deciding match between Greece and France for one direct place in the final phase of #EuroVolleyU19W, later this year in North Macedonia - though the loser of this game also gets another chance for the finals through Round 3 of the qualifiers.
