ITALY, RUSSIA AND SERBIA & MONTENEGRO REMAIN UNDEFEATED

Men's Indesit European Championship 2005

Rome/Belgrade, September 4, 2005. At the end of the third day of the Preliminary Pool play in the Men’s Indesit European Championship 2005 Croatia booked their first victory in Pool I in Rome (ITA) beating Portugal 3:2, whilst Italy confidently overcame the Ukraine 3:0 and Russia beat Poland 3:1. In Preliminary Pool II in Belgrade (SCG) Spain surprised France with a 3:2 victory after trailing 0:2, whilst host Serbia & Montenegro booked their second straight set victory, this time over Greece, and the Czechs beat the Netherlands 3:0, the only team in Pool II that has not yet won a match.

Both pools started off with breathtaking matches with Croatia beating Portugal in a five setter in Pool I in Rome (ITA) and Spain defeating France 15-9 in the tiebreak in Belgrade (SCG).

The level between Croatia and Portugal was very balanced throughout the match, but at the end of the fifth set the physical stamina of the Croatians played a deciding role in helping them capture their first victory in Pool I after having lost 0:3 to Poland the day before. Although the Portuguese managed to come back from trailing 20-24 in the first set, defending three match points, Tomislav Coskovic secured the first set for Croatia (25-23). The Portuguese successfully took revenge in the second set seizing their first match point at 24-20 through a successful smash by Hugo Gaspar. Continuing to play aggressive and with several great defense actions by Portuguese libero Hugo Ribeiro Portugal took a 2:1 set lead (25-21). The fourth set remained exciting when no one team managed to take a deciding lead (9-9, 14-14, 16-16). However, at 19-19 the Croatians broke through under the impulse of their captain Igor Omrcen who scored three times in a row (22-19). Effective blocking by Croatia and a serving mistake from Portuguese Hugo Gaspar gave the Croatians the chance to draw level (20-24) which Igor Omrcen capitalised on with a powerful attack on second set point (21-25).
It took Portugal six points before they captured their first point in the tiebreak (1-6). From then on the Croatians were unstoppable, also profiting from the onsetting tiredness on their opponent’s side, finally seizing the tiebreak 15-7.
Best scorer of the match was Igor Omrcen who booked a total 26 points ahead of team mate Tomislav Coskovic (19 points) and Portuguese Hugo Gaspar (17 points).
“Although this match was until now our best from a technical point of view, it was difficult to keep concentrated and maintain a high level throughout the five sets”, commented Orlando Samuels, Portugal’s head coach who is originally from Cuba, “Tiredness was the main reason why we lost the fifth set.” The best scorer of the match Igor Omrcen was very happy to have won but not satisfied with the performance of his team, as they still committed too many unforced errors.

Host Italy strode through their second pool match booking another 3:0 victory after having defeated Portugal in straight sets the round before. Leading confidently during the first two sets (16-12, 21-16) the players coached by Gian Paolo Montali proved stronger on block as well as on serve and committed less unforced errors than their opponents. Although the Italians secured a maximum ten-point lead in the third and final set (21-11) including some clever shots by experienced Luigi Mastrangelo, they still made it exciting in the end. With Maksym Panteleymonenko (2.01m tall) and Andriy Sydorenko (2.06m tall) together capturing five points in a row (22-19) the Ukraine still had high hopes of turning the table. Alessandro Fei stopped their opponent’s winning streak with two powerful smashes. At 24-20 for Italy the outsiders managed to successfully defend another three match points (24-23) before Italian number 9 Cristian Savani relieved his team and the 8’250 local spectators scoring on attack (25-23).
Best scorer of the match was Alessandro Fei with 16 points. For the Ukraine Maksy Panteleymonenko and Andriy Sydorenko both scored 10 points.
The Ukrainian head coach Viktor Mykhalchuk saw the last two lost matches from a realistic point of view: “We didn’t play at our best in both matches, however, our opponents in the first two matches, namely Russia and Italy, are one of the best teams in Europe, so we will try to improve our game for the next matches hoping to beat the other teams.” Gian Paolo Montali, head coach of Italy, was satisfied with the match, as his players performed better than during their straight set defeat against Portugal the day before: “It was a very good match. We were a little surprised when the Ukraine lined up a different formation from the one we expected, however, my players handled this very professionally and immediately changed the planned approach of the match.”

The final match in Pool I was the exciting challenge between the two volleyball giants Poland and 2004 Olympic bronze medallist Russia, both having won their first pool round the day before in straight sets. Demonstrating all aspects of the game, i.e. power and strength mixed with tactics, perfect technique, cleverness and skill, the two Eastern European teams created a breathtaking atmosphere amongst the spectators who were well aware that they were watching two of the best teams in the world compete against each other. Sharing the first two sets which both could have gone either way (25-27, 29-27), Russia captured the important 2:1 set lead (29-27) after having successfully defended three set points for Poland. The final fourth set was won by Russia 25-21.
Best scorer of the match was Pavel Abramov with 22 points for Russia followed by Mariusz Wlazly from Poland (21 points) and Serguei Tetyukhin from Russia (20 points). Sebastian Swiderski (POL) scored 19 points.
Konstantin Ushakov declared after the match that they did their best but are obviously a little tired now. “My team was not well enough prepared”, stated Russian head coach Zoran Gajic, “and we didn’t expect Poland to play so well.”
Indeed, Poland also had every chance of deciding this match in their favour. “We played very well but unfortunately lost the deciding points in the important moments of the match”, declared Polish team captain Sebastian Swiderski, “We will face another tough opponent tomorrow, namely Italy, where I expect a lot of support from our fans.” Polish head coach Raul Lozano was very impressed by the spiking performance of his team but wasn’t satisfied with the team’s reception today.

Spain surprised France on the third day of play in Pool II of the Indesit European Championship. After France won the first two sets the 2003 silver medallist was in the driver’s seat to their third straight victory. But Spain didn’t give up with their defense improving point by point. France on the other side started to lose their concentration a little. Although Spain won the third set it was the French who dominated in the fourth set, being close to clinching the victory. After saving several match points the Spanish managed to level the match by winning the fourth set (2:2).
In the fifth set tiebreaker Spain performed three excellent defense actions in the middle of the set which gave them the lead they needed. Winning the match 3:2 Spain is now back in business with two victories. Thanks to this result the Spanish formation still has all chances of reaching the semifinals.
“It would be great if we managed to continue playing like yesterday and today for the remainder of the tournament”, Spanish coach Oscar Novillo stated. “We played very well tactically. Even though we have already made our reservations for the return flight to Madrid after pool play, I really hope that we have to cancel them and go to Rome instead.”
“We started to play well when we stopped thinking about the result”, Spanish captain Rafael Pascual added. “After losing the first two sets we knew that we had to play more courageous and work harder in order to find the way back into the match.”
“Spain was better on tactical level than we were today”, French head coach Philippe Blain stated, “Although we had all chances to finish the match in the fourth set, we failed, thus handing over the victory to Spain.”
Spanish Guillermo Falasca was the best scorer with 26 points, closely followed by his teammate Israel Rodriguez and French Oliver Kieffer who both scored 20 points.

Serbia & Montenegro is the only team to have won all matches in Pool II of the Indesit European Championship. The home team defeated Greece in three straight sets, currently being the proud leader of this preliminary pool.
Serbia & Montenegro showed some impressive volleyball in front of almost 8’500 true fans in the Belgrade Arena, especially during the first and second set. The home crowd favourite won the first two sets easily, but Greece came back. After Greek coach Konstantinos Charitonidis substituted some of his players on court, things started to look brighter for the Greek team. Although Greece took a 18-14 lead, Serbia & Montenegro came back and finally seized the 3:0 victory on the fourth occasion after having saved set point for Greece.
“We played excellent in the first two sets”, Grbic said, “but then we stopped paying attention and slowed down our game. But in crucial moments we realised how serious the situations were and concentrated better. Thus, we created our own problems.”
“We were concentrated in block and attack, which was however not sufficient”, Charitonidis stated. “We played a little bit better in the third set. The next matches will be tough. We will need to give more than 100% in order to reap success.”’
Two Serbian players topped the best scorers list: Andrija Geric and Ivan Miljkovic both made 15 points each. On the Greek side Andrei Kravarik scored 11 points.

The Czech Republic booked their first victory after defeating the Netherlands in three straight sets. The Czech team started the match extremely well, putting enormous pressure on the Dutch team, who committed a lot of unforced errors. After the Dutch coach Harry Brokking made some changes following the loss of the first set, the Dutch found back into the match. But the Czechs managed to capture the final important points of the second and third, finally booking the 3:0 victory. For the Czech Republic this was the first victory of the tournament after having lost to France and Serbia & Montenegro. The Netherlands are still waiting for their first victory, experiencing the worst start ever of a European Championship since over 20 years.
“We had an excellent start”, Czech coach Laurent Tille stated. “We experienced some problems after the Netherlands changed some players but at the end of each set we remained focused and finally won.”
“Our start into the match was disgraceful”, Brokking said. “We tried to improve but it was not sufficient.”
Jakub Novotny was the best scorer of the match with 15 points. On Dutch side Kristian van der Wel, who replaced Kay van Dijk after the first set, made 14 points.

Action in Rome (Pool I) continues on Monday with three more preliminary pool round matches to play, whilst the six teams in Belgrade (Pool II) have one day to recover before they start their final three preliminary pool round matches on Tuesday.

Results and further Match Schedule (all times CET)

Preliminary Pool I in Rome (ITA)

03.09.2005	15.30	POL - CRO	3:0	25-22, 25-19, 25-21
03.09.2005	18.00	ITA - POR	3:0	25-19, 25-21, 25-20
03.09.2005	20.30	UKR - RUS	0:3	22-25, 23-25, 21-25
04.09.2005	15.30	POR - CRO	2:3	23-25, 25-20, 25-21, 21-25, 7-15
04.09.2005	18.00	ITA - UKR	3:0	25-17, 25-23, 25-23
04.09.2005	20.30	RUS - POL	3:1	25-27, 29-27, 29-27, 25-21
05.09.2005	15.30	UKR - POR
05.09.2005	18.00	POL - ITA
05.09.2005	20.30	CRO - RUS
07.09.2005	15.30	UKR - POL
07.09.2005	18.00	POR - RUS
07.09.2005	20.30	ITA - CRO
08.09.2005	15.30	POL - POR
08.09.2005	18.00	CRO - UKR
08.09.2005	21.00	RUS - ITA

Preliminary Pool I Ranking

1. Italy 4 (6:0), 2. Russia 4 (6:1), 3. Poland 3 (4:3), 4. Croatia 3 (3:5), 5. Ukraine 2 (0:6), 6. Portugal 1 (2:6)

 

Preliminary Pool II in Belgrade (SCG)

02.09.2005	15.30	GRE - NED	3:2	25-20, 15-25, 23-25, 25-21, 15-11
02.09.2005	17.30	FRA - CZE	3:0	25-23, 25-22, 25-20
02.09.2005	20.30	ESP - SCG	0:3	22-25, 17-25, 15-25
03.09.2005	15.30	NED - FRA	1:3	17-25, 22-25, 25-16, 20-25
03.09.2005	18.00	ESP - GRE	3:1	25-21, 24-26, 25-21, 25-20
03.09.2005	20.30	SCG - CZE	3:1	20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-22
04.09.2005	15.30	FRA - ESP	2:3	30-28, 25-16, 9-15
04.09.2005	18.00	CZE - NED	3:0	25-18, 25-22, 26-24
04.09.2005	20.30	GRE - SCG	0:3	20-25, 15-25, 27-29
06.09.2005	15.30	ESP - CZE
06.09.2005	18.00	SCG - NED
06.09.2005	20.30	GRE - FRA
07.09.2005	15.30	NED - ESP
07.09.2005	18.00	CZE - GRE
07.09.2005	20.30	FRA - SCG

Preliminary Pool II Ranking

1. Serbia Montenegro 6 (9:1), 2. Spain 5 (9:6), 3. France 5 (8:4), 4. Czech Republic 4 (4:6), 5. Greece 4 (4:8), 6. Netherlands 3 (3:9)

Final Four in Rome (ITA)

10.09.2005	18.00	Semifinal 1
10.09.2005	21.00	Semifinal 2
11.09.2005	17.30	Classification match 3-4
11.09.2005	21.00	Final

 

For further information such as match statistics, match pictures, more detailed match information, etc. please view www.cev.lu, www.eurovolley2005.com, www.eurovolleyroma2005.it, www.osscg.org.yu/eurovolley2005.

More on the web at www.cev.lu

Enjoy & Be There:

02-11 September 2005: Men’s Senior European Championships 2005, Rome (ITA) and Belgrade (SCG).
16-25 September 2005: Women’s Senior European Championships 2005, Pula and Zagreb, Croatia.