POLAND FAILS TO STOP ITALIANS’ WINNING STREAK, CROATIA TAKES RUSSIA TO TIEBREAK

Men's Indesit European Championship 2005

Rome/Belgrade, September 5, 2005. The Indesit European Championship 2005 concluded the third day of Preliminary Pool play in Rome (ITA) with Portugal capturing the tiebreak against the Ukraine 15-13, Pool I and Final Four host Italy securing their third straight set victory this time against Poland, and Russia just managed to beat Croatia 15-11 in the tiebreak set. The six teams in Pool II in Belgrade (SCG) profited from a day of rest, resuming their mission on Tuesday.

Portugal and the Ukraine, the two teams which have not yet won a match, opened the third day of competition in Rome’s Palalottomatica with the Portuguese getting off to a better start taking a 1:0 lead (25-20). The Eastern Europeans levelled to 1:1 with the same score (20-25) and went on dominating the match.
Profiting from a low on Portuguese side the team coached by Viktor Mykhalchuk took a 2:1 set lead (25-20) after 2.10m tall Mykola Rudnytskyy blocked with success. The third set could have been the decider for the Ukraine, but they were confronted with a tough Portuguese opponent who fought for every ball. Hugo Gaspar succeeded in capturing the first set point for Portugal with an unreachable attack (21-25).
The Ukraine dominated the beginning of the deciding fifth set with effective blocking by Roman Dobrytsya and Andriy Sydorenko, seizing a maximum three point lead (8-5). Proving their determined fighting spirit the team coached by Orlando Samuels never gave up and fought back to level under the impulse of Hugo Gaspar, Eden Sequeira and Eurico Peixoto (10-10, 12-12). Sergiy Shulha presented Portugal with the first match point when his serve landed outside the court (13-14). Hugo Gaspar answered with an ace, securing Portugal’s first victory (13-15).
Best scorer of the match was Hugo Gaspar with 18 points followed by Oleksiy Gatin who scored 17 points for the Ukraine.
“We wanted to show a good game”, explained Ukrainian team captain Sergiy Shchavinskyy and head coach Viktor Mykhalchuk, “but we unfortunately lost. Still, we are satisfied with the way we played.” Despite victory the Portuguese team captain Joao Jose and head coach Orlando Samuels weren’t totally satisfied. “We started to play softer and made more mistakes during the second set”, reckoned Joao Jose, “but thank God our persisting defense finally led us to win the match.” Orlando Samuels still sees room for improvement regarding the digging skills of his team and expects still better moments to come. Nevertheless, the next two opponents in line for Portugal will be no other than Poland and Russia.

The first set between host Italy and another Final Four favourite Poland already promised spectacular volleyball with one team capping the other on attack. Whilst Alessandro Fei, Alberto Cisolla and team captain Valerio Vermiglio pointed for Italy, Poland responded with Sebastian Swiderski and Mariusz Wlazly. Although the latter managed to defend Italy’s first set point (24-24), local number 18 Matej Cernic attacked with success, thus providing Italy with another opportunity to seal the first set (24-25). Poland’s best scorer, 22-year-old Mariusz Wlazly, of all people, failed in attack, presenting Italy with the first set (24-26). The second set was just as exciting. Even though the Polish team took a three-point lead (16-13), the Italians managed to fight back successfully thanks to Alberto Cisolla who scored several times to turn the table in Italian favour (16-17). At 18-17 for the Ukraine the ‘ragazzi’ scored four points in a row: first Alessandro Fei, then a block by Luca Tencati, which was followed by two smash points from Matej Cernic (18-21). Mariusz Wlazly resisted bravely (20-21), but the Italians kept their cool with Luca Tencati capturing the second set point (22-25). In the third set Alessandro Fei was mainly responsible for his team’s 21-18 lead after scoring on attack as well as standing strong in block. The Poles made the Italians’ life on court a little easier by increasingly committing mistakes, especially on serve. Mariusz Wlazly scored to reduce the Italians’ four-point lead by one (19-23) but couldn’t prevent the local favourites from winning the next two points: Alessandro Fei’s clean spike and Luigi Mastrangelo’s killing block on match point (19-25).

Best scorer of the match was Alberto Cisolla scoring 20 points, whilst Mariusz Wlazly booked 14 points for Poland.
“I’m sorry for having lost”, stated Poland’s team captain Piotr Gruszka at the following press conference, “we definitely lost an opportunity. Congratulations to Italy however and we hope to improve.” Poland’s head coach Raul Lozano thought that his team didn’t perform as well as yesterday against Russia: “We weren’t as good in attack today. But then again, Italy played very strong, especially on serve.” Italian captain Valerio Vermiglio was very pleased with the home crowd (9’200 spectators), giving them a lot of credit: “They were much better than during the World League Final last year. We hope to go on as we are playing now and to do our best.” Italian head coach Gian Paolo Montali was very satisfied seeing his efforts as a coach being paid off. “Being a coach is very difficult”, he stated, “the more satisfying it is when your team plays great against such a strong opponent.”

The Croatian outsiders unexpectedly took Russia to a tiebreak set in the last match of the day in Rome. However, Russia demonstrated their expertise during the fifth set, coming back from trailing 9-11 to seize the tiebreak 15-11. Losing the first set against Croatia (25-21) it looked as if the Russians overcame their starting problems when they captured the following two sets (18-25, 20-25) for a 2:1 lead. Nevertheless, Croatia showed no sign of respect towards the 2005 European League Champion and titleholder of 12 European Championships, reaping success from almost every attack. Team captain Igor Omrcen and Tomislav Coskovic were unstoppable, scoring for Croatia’s 21-17 lead in the fourth set. Although Russia resisted with Alexei Kazakov performing strong, trying to avoid a fifth set (23-19, 23-20), Croatia finally profited from a serving mistake by Serguei Tetyukhin (25-21). Taking a first lead in the tiebreak (3-1) Croatia showed no sign of tiredness when Toni Kovacevic, Igor Omrcen and Tomislav Coskovic continued booking points, but Russia demonstrated all their international expertise in the deciding moment of the match, turning a 11-9 score in favour of Croatia to a final 15-11 tiebreak victory, scoring six consecutive points, including two aces by Andrei Egortchev.
Best scorer of the match was Tomislav Coskovic with 24 points followed by team mate Igor Omrcen who scored 23 points. On Russian side Alexei Kazakov was responsible for 16 winners.
Igor Omrcen was visibly disappointed but proud of his team’s performance: “We played well although we lost to one of the greatest teams in the world. We are happy but also a little disillusioned.” “My squad demonstrated discipline and heart and I’m very sorry for my players that they lost”, added Croatian head coach Radovan Malevic, “We’re on the right way for the 2008 Olympic Games.” Russian head coach Zoran Gajic thanked Croatia especially for their professional fair play. Konstantin Ushakov didn’t expect Croatia to play so well: “However, the important thing is that we won.”

Action continues on Tuesday but only with the six teams from Pool II in Belgrade. Pool I teams Italy, Russia, Poland, Croatia, Portugal and the Ukraine will have a day to recover on Tuesday.

There will also be no competition on Friday, the day of the CEV XXVIth General Assembly, which will take place in Rome (ITA). Several important people, including the CEV Board of Administration, the Executive Members as well as the presidents of the affiliated national federations, have been invited to attend this event with the possibility to share the most important European volleyball spectacle as well as visiting the beautiful Italian capital during the following two days.

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	2:3	20-25, 25-20, 25-20, 21-25, 13-15
05.09.2005	18.00	POL - ITA	0:3	24-26, 22-25, 19-25
05.09.2005	20.30	CRO - RUS	2:3	25-21, 18-25, 20-25, 25-21, 11-15
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 6 (9:0), 2. Russia 6 (9:3), 3. Poland 4 (4:6), 4. Croatia 4 (5:8), 5. Portugal 3 (5:8), 6. Ukraine 3 (2:9)

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, 23-25, 31-33, 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.