European League 2010

Quote from charalampos

5.6.10
Great Britain-Romania

Romania turns up the heat in Sheffield statistics photo gallery
Great Britain vs. Romania 0:3 (19-25, 15-25, 15-25)
Romania made an impressive start to their European League campaign at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield as they recovered from an uncertain start to power to a straight sets win. The GB girls could not have made a better start with Lucy Wicks serving an ace and it signaled a positive start with Grace Carter making it 7:3 after a short set from Wicks.
It was as big an advantage as GB held in the set as Romania steadily whittled down their lead with some strong defense and some big hitting from Daiana Muresan. She consistently found the gaps in the GB block and it was a block on Rachel Bragg that put Romania level at 10 in the set and forced GB coach Audrey Cooper to call her first time-out. Another hit from Muresan prompted her second time-out as GB trailed 12:15 and Romania did not lose their grip on the set. Three times they managed to close the gap to two points but Romania stubbornly refused to give it up and it was a net fault from Janine Sandell that brought up their first set point which they took to claim it 25-19. Romania grew in confidence and they led 3:0 in the second and then a towering block from Nneka Onyejekwe on Bragg took it to 4:1. A tip over the block from Muresan gave Romania a 9:4 lead and they stretched it to 19:11 after Bragg served long. But Janine Sandell threatened to turn the set around with some explosive hitting and a strong block from her cut the deficit to five points 15:20 with Romanian coach Darko Zakoc taking a time-out to try and sort things out. Wicks served marginally out on the next point to give Romania back the initiative and with Diana Neaga turning up the pressure with some strong serving, they finished the set powerfully. Maria Bertelli failed to get enough on another tough serve from Neaga to give Romania set point and then Lynne Beattie hit into the net as Romania took the set 25-15 and a two-set lead.
GB hit back in the third set and led 6:3 after a terrific hit through the middle by Nichola Osborne but Romania clawed it back with left-handed Adina Stanciu hitting crosscourt to give them an 8:6 lead at the first technical time-out. GB fought for everything in the back court and kept the pressure on. Captain Beattie cut the deficit to a single point with a great crosscourt hit and then, after an inspired pick-up from Bertelli, powered one down the line to level the scores at 10. A service error from Rachel Laybourne gave Romania back the lead and they took full advantage with five unanswered points to take control again. Muresan found the gap in the back court to take Romania to 16:11 at the second technical time-out and leave GB with a mountain to climb. Romania defended solidly in the back court and stepped up a gear when it mattered. A block on Rachel Laybourne brought up match point and Elena Zaharia supplied the killing blow.
Romanian coach Darko Zakoc said: “I’m satisfied with the win and I compliment GB on their good start. My team started very badly and there was maybe some nerves but we got it right after the second technical time-out and with strong service and blocking - we won 15 points on blocks - and that was the key to our win”.
GB coach Audrey Cooper stated: “We faced a strong Romanian team that found good rhythm and momentum as the match wore on. When we were down, they continued to punish us so that was good play from them. From my perspective, my team was a little bit indecisive and tentative which is not something I would normally worry about. It’s something we can nail. We’ll regroup and come back and look to execute our game-plan in the next match”.
Captain Lynne Beattie added: “We got off to a really good start but we lost a bit of confidence midway through the first set. We were playing a bit tentatively and weren’t quite running the offence we wanted to run. Romania caused us a lot of problems in our serve-receive unit but we’ve been passing really well in recent matches so we can do better in the next match”.
Romanian captain Alina Albu said: “We started a little bit slowly with a lot of emotion because it is something of a new team but we came back. We still made some stupid mistakes that we need to cut out”.

Quote from charalampos

6.6.10
Great Britain-Romania

Romania serves up double trouble for GB girls statistics photo gallery
Great Britain vs. Romania 0:3 (22-25, 20-25, 20-25)
Romania completed a double victory over GB in Pool A of the 2010 CEV European League at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield but was made to work hard for the win. GB improved considerably on Saturday’s tentative performance and stood toe-to-toe with Romania on the big points but could not do enough to extend the match beyond three sets.
GB held the lead early in the first set but a net touch gave Romania a slender 6:5 lead and they took it to 8:6 at the first technical time-out with a strong crosscourt hit of Elena Zaharia from position four. Romania took seven points in a row to lead 13:6 with captain Alina Albu serving tough before Janine Sandell put a GB point back on the board. Zaharia showed she has plenty in her repertoire as she put Romania 14:8 ahead with a tip over the block and when Nneka Onyejekwe blocked out Sandell to give her side a 16:10 lead, there looked no way back for GB. But the home side defended stubbornly and with Grace Carter gaining considerable success through the middle, GB fought back to 19:19 and forced Romanian coach Darko Zakoc into his second time-out. GB refused to lie down and pulled it back from 20:22 to 22:22 but Daiana Muresan had three significant hits deep in the set that pushed the momentum back in Romania’s favor. She brought up set point and when Nicky Osborne put too much weight on her spike and sent it out of court, Romania snatched the set 25-22.
Romania raced to a 4:1 lead at the start of the second set but GB clawed back to 5:5 after middle hit from Osborne and the left-handed Adina Stanciu hitting into the net. It was 8:6 to Romania at the technical time-out after Alexandra Sobo showed great awareness at the net to catch the GB block off-balance. Sandell and Carter kept GB within touching distance but Romania took a significant step when Sobo successfully blocked Osborne to give them a 16:11 lead. But GB would not give up the fight and coach Zakoc had to call a time-out as the hosts closed it to three points 17:20. Good blocking from Stacey O’Connor kept up GB’s resistance and they managed to reduce it to two points 20:22 after Romania failed to defend a strong serve from Sandell. But Romania finished the set strongly. Muresan powered a point down the line before a careless smash from Jennifer Taylor brought up set point. Rachel Bragg then failed to get past the Romania block as GB lost the set 20-25.
It was now a tall order for GB to retrieve things and Romania quickly established a 4:0 lead in the third set. But with Bragg finding her hitting weight and Carter strong in the block, GB turned it around to lead 8:7 at the technical time-out. With Taylor putting the Romania service reception under pressure and then supplying a terrific back-court hit, GB built it to 11:7 including an ace from Taylor before Albu hit back through the middle. Anca Martin produced a stunning hit from position four to remind GB what they were up against but Sandell responded by winning the next point. GB forged ahead 15:10 but Martin found a gap through position two. Muresan wiped one off the block and then Bragg was overeager with a hit, Romania had closed it to two. But Bragg put away the next point after a great pass from Maria Bertelli to make it 16:13 at the second technical time-out. Romania fought back from 15:18 to lead 20:18 on the serving of Muresan and some clever placement from Zaharia. Once again Romania came up with the goods at the business end of the set and Martin put away the final two points to give them the set 25-20 and complete the perfect weekend.
Coach Zakoc said: “I’m satisfied only with the win. We played worse than yesterday - our service and block was on a high level in the first game but today it was on a low level. We won only seven points from the block and only five points from service. We only improved in our percentage on attack - 40 per cent which is why we won. We must change many things in our game if we are to trouble Bulgaria next weekend that is at a high level in Europe”.
Captain Albu added: “We started really well but everything turned against us and GB started defending really well. We had some problems in our block and our defending but I guess we were a little more inspired at the end of each set”.
GB coach Audrey Cooper said: “We made it a lot more difficult for Romania but in some ways this is more disappointing because we were four or five points up in a couple of sets but let it slip away. It wasn’t because of lack of effort but we need to stay cool on the big points. We showed massive amounts of character to come back from four or five points down in sets and I thought Jen Taylor showed great composure when she came in and Rachel Bragg delivered. Grace Carter was absolutely awesome today as our tactics were to use the middle more”.
Captain Lynne Beattie was also upbeat: “We’re obviously disappointed with the result but there was a huge improvement on the first match. We struggled with their block yesterday but today we chinked in their armor. We found ways around their block and played a lot quicker to cause them problems”.