Qualification Tournament for the European Championships 2009

Estonia - Hungary 3:1 (27:25, 24:26, 25:13, 25:21)

Successful opening for both France and Belarus
New faces appeared in the French team for that first official international game of the summer season, their names being Samuel Tuia, Emmanuel Ragondet, Marien Moreau et Jean-Stéphane Tolar, so at least one third of the entire team.

The game started with an ace by Nakovski. Very aggressive in their type of play, the Macedonians seemed decided to play all their cards versus France, led by setter Le Marrec. At 8-7 for France as the first technical time-out was called, the players of Tasevski were very close to the French and were playing with all their heart and strength. They took the lead at 11-10 and then increased their margin up to 13-10. The spectators had to wait until 16-16 to see the French and their new captain come back on tracks, thanks to a powerful centre attack of Samica. At 21-19 the Blue eventually found a good pace and enjoyed a good hold on the end of the set, taking advantage of the lack of rhythm of their opponents, who didn’t display all the energy that they gave away at the beginning of the set. The French won the first set 25-20.

The battle started in the first set continued in the second. But this time the French didn’t make the same mistakes and thanks to Kieffer at the centre or Rouzier on his serve, the French fought back, leading 5-3. At the first technical time-out the Macedonians were still leading 8-7, while the French didn’t not seem to find the solution in order to make their defence much more consistent.

But the time-out had a positive impact on them, like the words of their coach. They seemed much more motivated and offensive, like Hardy-Dessources or Samica and Rouzier at the bottom of the net. They started playing better and better, showing their skills at block and winning the set 25-16.

Reassured by this second set, head coach Philippe Blain decided to send his new recruit, Samuel Tuia, on the field. But Zafirov and his team players were still resisting quite well, giving away what was left of their strength, leading 8-5 at the first technical time-out. The French didn’t not find the solutions to cope with such efforts and so they managed to come-back only at 11-11… but not for a long time. At 18-14 for Macedonia, Philippe Blain asked for a time-out. The French managed to be back at 20-22 and then went on to even lead 23-24. The following points were completely crazy, and thanks to the good work of Samuel Tuia and Antonin Rouzier, the French managed to win the set 29-27.

“We knew that these players were ready for give it all, while we lacked speed tonight. We were well in the second set, but then we relaxed too much. Moreover they hit so hard that the players got their fingers hurt and we were not good in defence. It was hard tonight because the Macedonians had decided to do all they could to win. This is a good lesson for our young players, to show them that all games must be played at 100%” stated French head coach Philippe Blain at the end of the match.

A couple of hours before the much awaited match of the local heroes, Belarus and Bosnia & Herzegovina opened the competition in the Stade des Flanders, Dunkerque, in front of the 800 spectators.

Bosnia-Herzegovina took the lead at the very start of the game, but both teams seemed well determined to fight. The players led by head coach Milosevic are impressive and they rapidly take the lead (6-2) on a huge block; showing their outstanding physical abilities. However Belarus reacts rapidly, thanks to a good series of blocks and to a few mistakes from their opponents. Both teams are fully focused on the game now, struggling at 14-13. Belarus then takes the lead for the first time, at 18-17, and finally wins the first set 25-21.

The scenario starts the same way in the second set, with the players of Milosevic putting lots of pressure since the first rallies, again they take the lead but they also rapidly lose it, because of too many unforced errors. The Bosnian coach asks a time out, as Belarus leads 10-5. The players trained by Mr. Shinayevski are playing well, intelligently, at the image of Siarhei Antanovich, who plays tremendously well, especially on the right side of the net. At the second technical time-out the Belarus leads 16-10, their volleyball is getting better and better, very powerful, capable of big blocks and strong attacks. They seem to take easily control of that first game. However the Bosnians try to resist, but make to many mistakes and they also seem disorganized in comparison with their opponents. As the score stands at 21-11, Belarus definitely seems to have a strong hold on the game and the team logically wins that second set 25-13.

Despite all their efforts in the third set, the players from Bosnia-Herzegovina do not seem capable of finding the right solution versus Belarus, whose players stay focused, aware, and particularly powerful. At 13-10 for Belarus, the audience witnesses a reaction brought by the players from Bosnia-Herzegovina. But it will not be enough to impress a perfectly organized Belarusian team, well decided to win in 3 straight sets. This is what they finally do, winning the third and last set 25-18.

Mr. Aliaksandr Shinayevski, head coach of the Belarusian team, states: "I have to admit that I was very nervous from the very start of the game. It is because I have a very young team here, and I did not expect the game to start the way it started. Siarhei Antanovich is a good player, he could become the leader of this team in 2 or 3 years, but he still has to work."

The Netherlands easily walk over Azerbaijan, whilst Slovenia also wins
Though Azerbaijan started fiercely, the Dutch had their answer ready. With Wytze Kooistra on serve and Robert Horstink and Kay van Dijk spiking as wild men, the Netherlands created a gap of 5 points at the first technical time out.

Setter Yannick van Harskamp had the honor to start in the basis for the first time. He did his job well, as the men in orange soon reached a score of 12-5. The team of Azerbaijan experienced the difference in class when the Dutch expended their lead to 19-7. With Van Dijk on serve, the men of head coach Peter Blangé easily walked to their first set point (24-9), which was silvered immediately.

Freshly assigned Dutch captain Jeroen Trommel started the second set on serve. One of the tallest men on Dutch side, Rob Bontje, scored three block points in the first phase. Azerbaijan fought, but the difference in level was obvious. Through an unstoppable smash of Horstink the Dutch reached the second technical time out with a 7 points lead. At 18-9 Azerbaijan coach Sahib Aliyev called for a time out, but it seemed impossible to change the tide. At the end of the set, Blangé substituted three of his players and via 21-11 the Netherlands closed the set at 25-14.

In the final set, with Jan Willem Snippe substituting Horstink, the Dutch immediately walked to a 3-0 lead. Azerbaijan however did not give up and came back to 6-5. The Eastern-Europeans stayed close up on the Dutch heals until 12-11, but then the orange train started running again (16-11, 20-12). At 23-15 the Azerbaijan coach asked for his last time out in this match and Aleksey Chervyakov scored through a clever tip ball. The Netherlands obtained their match point by a net serve of Azerbaijan (25-17).

Winning coach Blangé appeared satisfied at the press conference afterwards. “We didn’t have to do a lot of effort to win our opening match. I have seen numerous impressive combinations, it was a shooting match for us.”
The opening match of European Championship Qualification Tournament in Rotterdam was won by Slovenia in straight sets. Opponent Latvia gave good resistance, but at the end of each set Slovenia walked away a few points. After 90 minutes the match played in the Topsport centre was over.

Latvia started more concentrated and took the lead in the opening phase, but Slovenia was able to restore itself and was responsible for the first technical time out. The margin stayed 1 point up to 10-9, when Slovenia finally succeeded in creating a gap of 5 points (16-11).

Latvia however did not give up easily and diminished her arrear to 16-13. But, after an unforced error, Latvian head coach Raimonds Vilde called a time out for his team. His speech seemed to work, as Latvia came back to 19-17. However, a series of errors on the serve position enabled Slovenia to keep head of the score. A killing block of Slovenia’s Davor Čebron resulted in the first set point. The same Čebron served out the set (25-22).

In the second set again the first points were for Latvia. Slovenia however woke up immediately and took the first lead at 4-3. Latvia worked hard, especially Janis Peda who dived for many balls, but Slovenia slowly widened its lead (12-7). Latvian coach Vilde substituted his setter to change the tide and that seemed to work: at 14-12 Gregor Hribar called his first time out. The score got even again on 15-15, Latvian setter Denis Petrovs served his attackers well. Slovenia however retrieved itself, resulting in a 22-19. Latvia was not able to come back again and the set ended in 25-20.

Latvia didn’t seem impressed at the start of the third set. The driven team took a lead of two points in the first phase. The score was first equal at 6-6, after which Čebron scored a direct service point again. Tied at 11-11, Slovenia seemed to get more driven and took quite a steady lead of two points. The best rally of the match was fought out at 14-12, won by Latvia. Rok Satler was brought in on serve at 17-15, but the difference of two points remained. At 19-18 Slovenian coach Hribar called his second time out of the match, but Latvia managed to equal the score again. Now Slovenia seemed to have had enough and on the hand of Čebron they ended the set and match in 25-20.

CEV

An easy job for Bulgaria against Israel
The European Qualification Tournament - Pool E in Varna started with a stunning victory for the host team of Bulgaria in the opening match.

In front of an enthusiastic audience, the team of coach Stoev, didn’t leave any possibility to the Israeli team, except in the third set, when the team led by coach Karpovski, tried to surprise Bulgaria till leading 15-12; after that a glowing reaction of the Bulgarians players stopped each effort of the Israeli team of Israel which was trying to win at least one set against the local favorites.

Plamen Konstantinov, Bulgaria’s captain, stated at the press conference right after the completion of the match: “We won 3:0, which is essential in such a kind of tournament. We didn’t play perfectly. We know we must work in order to much better cope with some situations. It was a good match, especially for the spectators. Tomorrow it will be even better, because the team of Portugal is much stronger then Israel”.

Alexander Laurain, Israel’s captain, added: “We’re glad to be here. The organization is good and we also received a warm welcome. We can not really afford to play at the same level of the Bulgarian team; we hope that tomorrow and the day after tomorrow we will play at our best for winning the remaining matches”.

Avashai Karpovski, who – as previously mentioned – is serving as the head coach of Israel; declared: “We were very well aware before this match that Bulgaria is a team which is much stronger then us. I hope that tomorrow we will play better”.

Finally Martin Stoev, head coach of the Bulgarians, concluded: “It was a pretty good match. We didn’t risk in any fundamental. We started out with some problems with the block, but it was because we didn’t know the team of Israel. Tomorrow it will be different, also in terms of motivation. Croatia arrived with a young team and for this reason Portugal will be the team which is going to compete with us for the first place at the end of this tournament. For this I also made a lot of substitutions, namely in order to preserve the players for the tomorrow’s match”.

In today’s second match, Portugal easily cruised over Croatia, which eventually arrived in Varna with a very young team lacking any relevant experience at international level. The team of coach Schmidt, relying especially on very effective serves and blocks that often closed the road to the Croatians hitters, won the match in straight sets.

The tournament’s schedule features for tomorrow a match that will probably assign the first place in the pool, i.e. the hosts of Bulgaria are going to take over Portugal.

A comfortable start for Poland
The Polish National Team won the opening match of the 2nd Round Qualification Tournament to the 2009 Men’s Senior European Championships in Olsztyn against Montenegro in straight sets (25-19, 25-18, 25-20).
Thanks to the amazing serving of Mariusz Wlazły, the Polish team started leading quite comfortably even from the beginning of the first set (5:0). The Montenegrin coach Vukovic decided to call a time out. At the first technical time out the result was 8:4 in favor of Poland. The second break brought also a marvelous score for the Polish team, which increased the lead up to (16:13). As soon as the score reached 20:16, Montenegro decided to call another time out. The first substitution allowed Piotr Gruszka, captain of the Polish line-up, to enter the court. After Sebastian Świderski’s serving, the local heroes enjoyed a leading margin of 5 points (22:17). As a result, the Polish team went on to win the first set (25:19). At the beginning of the second set, the Poles introduced their specific way of playing and the result was an 8:3 lead. As the score stood at 12:6 for Poland, Vukovic asked for another break for his team. At the second technical time out the score stood at 16:12, “obviously” in favor of the Polish National Team. Since then, Montenegro started to reduce the gap. As a consequence of that, the score first went to 15:17 and then to 16:18. Krzysztof Gierczyński then joined the Polish team. As soon as the score reached 20:16, Montenegro’s coach requested another time out. At the end of the set the Poles sped up their rhythm and eventually won 25:18.
The third set was very similar to the previous ones. At the first technical time Raul Lozano’s team was leading by 4 points. The Poles were the leaders of the entire game, with the score moving up to 12:6, 14:7, 16:12.
The end of the set belonged to Poland who won the third and final set 25:20 and as a consequence the whole match in straight sets.

Today’s second match provided a convincing victory for Estonia against Hungary (3:1). For the Hungarian team it was very difficult to find a good solution for the perfectly playing members of the team coached by Mr. Henn Vallimäe. All the mistakes made in serving and blocking by the Hungarian team guaranteed a certain domination to Estonia, finishing the set 27:25. The Hungarian team started a real battle during the second set. They were leading the score at both the first and second technical time-out. Thanks to an amazing serving and a good playing the Magyar team went on to win the second set. The third set was very similar to the first one. It was difficult for the Hungarian team to stand the perfect blocking of the rivals. Constant mistakes in serving were a perfect present for the Baltic team who won the set 25:13. The fourth set appeared as a combination of the Estonian team’s winning process. Mistakes from the previous sets, as well as a nervous atmosphere within the Hungarian team, let Estonia win the fourth set 25:21 and subsequently the whole match 3:1.

CEV

Montenegro - Hungary 3:1 (25:21, 25:23, 28:30, 27:25)
Montenegro: 6 Aleksandar Milivojevic, 2 Hanza Zatric, 11 Milan Jurisic, 17 Simo Dabovic, 18 Milos Culafic, 16 Milan Markovic, 5 Ivan Rasovic (libero)
Hungary: 17 Zoltan Mozer, 8 Peter Nagy, 10 Miklos Toronyai, 7 Zoltan Kovacs, 5 Szabolcs Szalai, 11 Balazs Gelencser, 12 David Molnar (libero) oraz 4 Gabor Toth, 14 Szabolcs Nemeth, Csala Bernat

Poland - Estonia 3:0 (28:26; 25:17; 25:19).
Poland: Piotr Nowakowski (12), Daniel Pliński (9), Marcin Wika (12), Mariusz Wlazły (8 ), Paweł Woicki (1), Sebastian Świderski (12), Krzysztof Ignaczak (libero) and Piotr Gruszka (4), Łukasz Żygadło (1), Krzysztof Gierczyński (2)
Estonia: Pajusalu (5), Popart (3), Sikaste (6), Sirelpu (6), Lemberg (0), Nommsalu (8 ), Esna (libero) and Kreek (2), Toobal (3), Meresaar (6), Silm (0), Rosenblatt (2)

Quote from m_z

what a debut! the best polish middle blocker on this tournament

I'm curious how will be looked co-operation between Nowakowski and Zagumny.