))
ITALY AND RUSSIA WIN FIVE SET THRILLERS
Men's Indesit European Championship 2005
Rome, Italy, September
10, 2005. In the semifinal round of the Men’s Indesit European
Championship 2005 Russia beat Spain 3:2, whilst Italy kept the upper
hand against Serbia & Montenegro 15-8 in the deciding set.
“We’re technically inferior to Russia regarding playing experience
as well as training”, analysed Spain’s team captain Rafael Pascual
before the match, “However, Russia is a team with highs and lows. If
they play well, their opponent hardly stands a chance, but once they
start losing concentration they are also vulnerable.” Thus, outsider
Spain knew they had chances and were finally close to achieving a huge
surprise victory against volleyball superpower Russia when they led the
tiebreak 13-10, but unfortunately didn’t manage to close down on
Russia, finally having to admit defeat not winning one more point
(13-15). Taking advantage of Russia’s slow start into the match
surprising the 2005 European League Champion with a pretty clear first
set victory (25-15), Spain continued strong in the second set (7-4).
Russia didn’t seem as concentrated as during their preceding match
against Italy, committing several unforced errors and being less
consequent in attack. Still, they managed to close the gap (7-7)
maintaining a balanced score (13-13, 16-16). Although Spain always led
by one point (17-16, 19-18), having the chance to win the second set
(24-23), Semen Poltavsky saved his team of trailing 0:2 with Pavel
Abramov and Alexei Kazakov smashing successfully (26-25) to finally
profit from a misjudgement on Spanish side on Alexei Kazakov’s serve
(27-25).
Spain was put under increasing pressure by Russia during the third set,
not being able to construct many successful attacks. Committing hardly
any unforced errors, nearly everything worked for the 2003 European
bronze medallist who finally took the 2:1 lead (25-12).
The errors crept into the Russians’ game again in the fourth set,
whilst Spain seemed much more focused. Some huge blocks by Jose Luis
Molto and Israel Rodriguez, the latter also scoring several times on
attack, and weakening resistance by Russia, brought the Spaniards well
in advance (14-8). Although the Russians came close (18-21), they
didn’t take their chances in attack, so that Spain drew 2:2 level
(25-19).
The tiebreak depended a lot on block. Whilst Jose Javier Subiela,
Miguel Angel Falasca and Rafael Pascual pointed in block for Spain,
Pavel Abramov and Alexei Kazakov were successful blockers on Russian
side. Spain led 13-10, also thanks to a tough defense, but the two
latter Russian named wouldn’t let the Spaniards get into the final,
finally closing the set in Russian favour after Alexei Kazakov blocked
twice the attack by Iban Perez.
Best scorer of the match was Semen Poltavsky with 21 points and Pavel Abramov with 19 points, whilst Israel Rodriguez scored most points for Spain (16 points).
“I don’t know why we finally lost”, stated Rafael Pascual after the
match, “probably because Russia has more talented players. Anyway, I
hope that we will maintain the same good performance in our next match
tomorrow.” Spanish head coach Oscar Novillo wasn’t satisfied, as he
reckons that there is no logic in volleyball sport and everything is
possible: “Although we worked hard and played well I simply can’t be
satisfied. I know we had a potentially very good team facing us and
they deserved to win, but we also missed many chances.”
Whilst Russian team captain Konstantin Ushakov thinks that they have
the potential to win the European Championship, head coach Zoran Gajic,
who is originally from Serbia & Montenegro, explained the five set
match of his team due to lack of focus: “My players didn’t concentrate
very well. First of all, they still haven’t digested the effortful
victory against Italy two days ago, and secondly they were thinking too
much about the final match.”
In presence of 11’250 spectators, amongst them the
most important people in European and Italian volleyball, such as the
newly elected CEV Board of Administration members, the members of the
Commissions, several National Federation delegates, as well as the
responsible people for the organisation of this huge event on European
territory, which is taking place in two countries for the first time in
history, host and 2003 European Vice Champion Italy dominated Serbia
& Montenegro in the deciding fifth set, now meeting Russia in the
final on Sunday, which will be a rematch of the Preliminary Pool I
round two days ago where Russia seized a 3:1 victory.
The key to success for Italy was partly the blocking skills. Whilst the local favourites scored five times on block during the first set, which they decided 25-15 in their favour, also helped by several mistakes on their opponent’s side, the “ragazzi” totalled seven points on block during the third set (25-19), taking a 2:1 lead. Serbia & Montenegro on the other hand performed less errors and more solid blocks during the second set (with no blocks in the first set), which they won 25-19. The fourth set remained close up until 11-9 for Italy before Serbia & Montenegro’s best scorer Ivan Miljkovic experienced a series of attack mistakes, dropping the 2000 Olympic Champion five points behind (14-9). But the Eastern Europeans didn’t give up. Although they trailed with a maximum of seven points (18-11, 20-13), Andrija Geric, Slobodan Boskan and Ivan Miljkovic scored to bring Serbia & Montenegro back into the game (21-19). At 22-21 Italy gave away their lead committing two unforced errors (22-23) with Nikola Grbic seizing two set points for the Serbia Montenegrins (22-24) of which they captured the second (23-25), forcing the tiebreak set. Backed up by the support of the sold out Palalottomatica in Rome, Italy got started more successful into the final set, “killing” the opponent with steadfast blocks (3-0). Scoring one point after the other the team coached by Gian Paolo Montali seemed unstoppable with Alessandro Fei, Luigi Mastrangelo, Luca Tencati and Matej Cernic always finding the gap on their opponent’s side (6-3, 10-4, 13-7). A serve mistake by Serbia & Montenegro presented Italy with the first match point with Alessandro Fei managing to block the final attack by Ljubomir Travica’s squad (15-8), causing a wave of delight amongst the Italian fans and a sure sold out competition hall for Sunday’s match.
Best scorer of the match was Serbia Montenegrin Ivan Miljkovic with 25 points, whilst Alessandro Fei booked 23 points for Italy.
“Italy won deserved because they captured the points in the deciding
moments of the match”, stated Serbia & Montenegro captain Nikola
Grbic, “They risked and succeeded. We played differently than we did in
Belgrade regarding serving, blocking and digging. During the fifth set
we got stressed which isn’t usually the case.” Ljubomir Travica agreed
with the team captain stating that they haven’t yet found their rhythm
in Rome: “We were unable to use several situations in our favour.
Tomorrow we have to win because every medal is important to us.”
“It feels great to have reached the final match”, declared Italian
captain Valerio Vermiglio, “We wasted the fourth set but got back on
track in the fifth.”
“Tactically we played very well”, was the comment of Italy’s head coach
Gian Paolo Montali, “My players were also very enthusiastic. I told
them to play with heart and passion and that’s exactly what they did.”
In Sunday’s final match Italy will face Russia at 21.00 hrs following
the bronze medal match between Spain and Serbia & Montenegro.
Men’s Indesit European Championship 2005 Results
Final Four in Rome (ITA)
|
10.09.2005 |
18.00 |
Semifinal 1 |
RUS - ESP |
3:2 |
15-25, 27-25, 25-12, 19-25, 15-13 |
|
10.09.2005 |
21.00 |
Semifinal 2 |
ITA - SCG |
3:2 |
25-15, 19-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-8 |
|
11.09.2005 |
17.30 |
Classification match 3-4 |
ESP - SCG |
||
|
11.09.2005 |
21.00 |
Final |
RUS - ITA |
Final Preliminary Pool ResultsPreliminary 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 |
1:3 |
18-25, 25-21, 20-25, 21-25 |
|
07.09.2005 |
18.00 |
POR - RUS |
1:3 |
25-23, 22-25, 21-25, 18-25 |
|
07.09.2005 |
20.30 |
ITA - CRO |
3:1 |
20-25, 26-24, 25-17, 25-19 |
|
08.09.2005 |
15.30 |
POL - POR |
3:0 |
25-23, 25-18, 25-16 |
|
08.09.2005 |
18.00 |
CRO - UKR |
3:0 |
25-21, 25-21, 25-21 |
|
08.09.2005 |
21.00 |
RUS - ITA |
3:1 |
22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-22 |
Final Pool I Ranking
1. Russia 10 (15:5), 2. Italy
9 (13:4), 3. Poland 8 (10:7), 4. Croatia 7 (9:11), 5. Portugal 5 (8:14), 6. Ukraine 5 (3:15)
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 |
2:3 |
17-25, 25-22, 25-17, 14-25, 11-15 |
|
06.09.2005 |
18.00 |
SCG - NED |
3:0 |
25-20, 25-18, 25-19 |
|
06.09.2005 |
20.30 |
GRE - FRA |
3:2 |
25-22, 26-28, 20-25, 28-26, 15-12 |
|
07.09.2005 |
15.30 |
NED - ESP |
1:3 |
25-21, 20-25, 21-25, 18-25 |
|
07.09.2005 |
18.00 |
CZE - GRE |
1:3 |
32-30, 22-25, 19-25, 16-25 |
|
07.09.2005 |
20.30 |
FRA - SCG |
2:3 |
16-25, 25-20, 25-23, 19-25, 9-15 |
Final Pool II Ranking
1. Serbia Montenegro 10 (15:3), 2. Spain
8 (11:10), 3. Greece 8 (10:11), 4. France 7 (12:10), 5. Czech Republic 7 (8:11), 6. Netherlands 5 (4:15)
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.
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