14/07/2012 18:00
Belgian and German girls score second straight wins to fly to Ankara
2012 CEV Junior Volleyball European Championship - Women
Vilvoorde, Belgium, July 14, 2012. The home heroines of Belgium booked on Saturday their ticket to the final round of the 2012 CEV Junior Volleyball European Championship slated for mid August in Ankara, Turkey, after following up on yesterday’s win over Romania with a second 3:0 (25-17, 25-22, and 25-15) to edge Austria.
However, with the stands filled up to full capacity at EuroVolley Center in Vilvoorde, that run was not as flawless as the final score may suggest. Belgium caught a flying start in the opening set (8:2) but the guests stepped up the quality of their block to come back to 9:7 and trail by only two points (18:16) also after the second technical time-out, well supported by Sonja Katz and Dinka Taletovic. A time-out asked by Belgian head coach Julien Van de Vyver propelled a 6-0 break for the home girls who, with an outstanding Céline van Gestel (she is only 14 years old) cruised to the final 25-17.
The second set was very close up to 22:21 but Linde Hervent and Nathalie Lemmens did help the home side take the deciding points for the provisional 2:0 (25-22). Lorena Cianci stood out for Belgium in set 3 serving well and attacking with good consistency, paving the way for the 8:3 that called for the first technical time-out. A lot of errors from the Austrian side eased things up for Belgium with team captain Sarah Coppens cashing a match ball that contributed the much wanted ticket to Ankara.
Germany joined Belgium for the final round of the European Championship by scoring its second consecutive win in Vilvoorde and namely by routing Romania in three, straight sets (25-21, 25-16, and 25-15). Germany claimed the lead right from the start of each set via good serving provided by Nele Barber and Lisa Izquierdo and eventually kept it until the end to go for a well-deserved win in straight sets. Only in the first set Romania fought back to 20:19 well supported by Diana-Dora Carbuneanu and Cristina Cazacu but in the final and deciding rush the group around head coach Mircea Spatacean made a way too many mistakes to bring it home.
Romania did not have any chance to get back on track in set 2 as Germany was powered by the attacks of Lisa Izquierdo and its solid opposite Carina Aulenbrock. The same scenario unfolded in the third set where Izquierdo anchored Germany to the final 3:0 thereby booking a ticket to join the final round coming up this August in Ankara.
On Sunday the tournament will come to a close with Belgium and Germany playing for the final leadership in the Pool.
Click here for more information, including detailed stats of the matches
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