HOST CROATIA WIN FIRST MATCH, ITALY WINS 3:0 FOR SECOND TIME

Women's Indesit European Championship 2005

Zagreb/Pula, Croatia, September 18, 2005. On the second day of Preliminary Pool play in the Women’s Indesit European Championship 2005 Final Round, Azerbaijan booked their first victory, namely over Romania in Pool I in Zagreb 3:1, whilst host Croatia keep in the race beating Serbia & Montenegro 3:1 and Poland defeated Germany in the tiebreak set. In Preliminary Pool II in Pula, Italy achieved their second straight set victory, this time over Bulgaria, whilst Russia lost one set to Spain (3:1) and the Netherlands kept the upper hand against Turkey 3:1.

Although Azerbaijan were the favourites, not yet having lost against Romania this year, they faced a difficult time. The first set was close already with Romania taking the lead near the end (20-21, 22-23), but the first set point was for Azerbaijan (24-23), which Romanian Elena Butnaru defended successfully (24-24). Still, Azerbaijan managed to win the first set with the next two points (26-24). At 16-16 in the second set Romania managed to take off decidingly (19-24) only to allow Azerbaijan to come back, defending five set points before Romania balanced to 1:1 (23-25). Committing a lot less errors during the third set and demonstrating their whole potential Azerbaijan convincingly seized the 2:1 lead (25-17), but were in danger of losing the next set (14-18). However, good defense, blocking actions and well placed balls presented Azerbaijan with a series of eight points in a row (22-18). Although Romania scored once more on block (22-19), Azerbaijan finally took the 3:1 victory profiting from a mistake by their opponent.
Best scorers were Azerbaijan players Natalya Mammadova (24 points) and Yelena Shabovta (23 points).
“Although we were very nervous because we knew that we had to win today after having lost our first match yesterday, we played better today and finally managed to win”, stated Azerbaijan Oksana Parkhomenko after the match. Romanian team captain Carmen Alida Marcovici, who scored 17 points for her team, said that today’s match was definitely more difficult than the one before and emphasised that they have not yet been able to beat Azerbaijan this year.

Host Croatia was on next with a lot of pressure on them, firstly because they lost 1:3 against Romania the day before and secondly because they played in front of a home crowd of 3’500 spectators. But “the public helped us a lot with their support, like an avalanche. The better they supported, the better we played”, stated Croatian team captain Barbara Ruzic after the match. With the aid of the supporters and the total 28 points by Barbara Ruzic Croatia managed to beat the young team of Serbia & Montenegro, retaining all chances for a place in the semifinals. At first it looked as if the Croatian team continued their disappointing performance from the day before when they lacked team cohesion and showed much nervousness, losing the first set 25-16. At 16-16 in the second set however the hosts took off, finally levelling to 1:1 (19-25). Mia Jerkov and Barbara Ruzic captured the final two deciding points in the third set at 23-23, advancing Croatia to a 2:1 set lead. Barbara Ruzic was unstoppable in the fourth set, giving the Serbia Montenegrins little chance to counterattack, so that Croatia was able to celebrate their first victory and the public happy to come back again supporting their team to reach even further.
Best scorer of the match was Barbara Ruzic with 28 points followed by Ivana Djerisilo (SCG) with 22 points.
“Today we played as a team which was the most important”, added Barbara Ruzic happily. “Congratulations to Serbia & Montenegro as they fought really hard”, said hosting head coach Ivica Jelic after the match, “however, my team managed to realise all important technical assignments which we discussed about before the match. Our serve and blocks were very good and of course the public helped us a lot.”
Zoran Terzic, head coach of Serbia & Montenegro, confirmed that his team didn’t play any worse than the day before when they beat Germany 3:1, but that Croatia just played much better: “Maybe we relaxed a little too much after we won the first set, but we simply found no solution to Croatia’s attacks.”

The final match in Preliminary Pool I was disputed between Poland and Germany, where no clear prognosis could be made in favour of the defending European Champion and world number nine given that Germany (world number ten) had beaten Poland 3:1 during the World Championship qualification round in Dresden (GER) in June 2005. And so it was… although Poland took the first set 25-22, the Germans accelerated in the second set, impressing by solid blocks and tough defense, advancing with a maximum of five points (8-13, 10-15). The Poles came back though and levelled to 19-19, but it was Germany who seized the first set point following successful attacks by Cornelia Dumler and a spike by Christiane Fürst (23-24). A misjudgement by the Poles on Cornelia Dumler’s serve allowed the Germans to level sets to 1:1 (23-25). The Germans continued confident and strong also capturing the third set after Jana Müller lobbed the Polish block (18-24) and a successful diagonal attack (19-25). Germany took the lead in the fourth set (4-8, 6-10) but not for long (11-12, 19-18). Defending two set points against them (24-22) the Germans finally had to surrender to the clean attacking play of Poland who forced the tiebreak (28-26). A 7-1 lead by Poland was impossible for Germany to catch up on so that they had to admit defeat for the second time in a row with Poland celebrating their second victory.
Best scorers of the match were Poles Malgorzata Glinka and Dorota Swieniewicz (both 22 points), whilst German Cornelia Dumler booked 21 points for her team.
“We played pretty well today and found our team spirit”, commented German team captain Angelina Grün after the match, “of course we’re a little disappointed at the moment given that we were so close to victory but there are another three matches to come and we will know more then.” German head coach Hee Wan Lee was also satisfied with his team’s performance saying that the end was only a matter of luck.
Poland’s head coach Andrzej Niemczyk complimented the German team on their brave defense after they started the match very slow. Team captain Aleksandra Przybysz said that they always have difficult matches against the German team and that they experienced problems in defense as well as block this evening.

 

In Preliminary Pool II in Pula Bulgaria and Italy opened the second day of competition. Following Bulgaria’s victory over the Netherlands the day before everybody expected a tight encounter against Italy today. Although the Bulgarian players started well and concentrated with five successful blocks and the score remained tight up until 23-23, the Italians blocked Bulgaria’s attack twice in a row to finish the first set 25-23. Bulgaria slackened in nearly all elements of the game during the second set, especially in the reception of serve, thus setter Lyubka Debarlieva wasn’t able to set precise passes to main spikers Elena Koleva and Antonina Zetova. Hence, Italy took the second set 25-14 in which Italian best scorer Simona Rinieri scored six attacks. In the last set, Bulgaria had no chance in turning the result with the Italian team being ahead at least two to three points until the end with the set finishing 25-20 in Italian favour.
Best scorer of the match was Bulgarian Elena Koleva with 14 points, whilst Simona Rinieri scored 13 points for her team.
“Bulgaria is a very good team, as they showed yesterday against the Netherlands and we are very happy about our victory over them”, stated Italian head coach Marco Bonitta at the press conference. Our game was very well organised today, i.e. reception of serve, setting, attacks, as well as digging! Even our block improved from yesterday’s match against Spain.”
On the other side, Miroslav Zhivkov, Bulgarian head coach commented: “Italy was better today from every point of view. I think we were tired today after yesterday’s five set match.”'
Italian injured player Antonella Del Core was present at the conference as well. She said that her leg feels much better and hopefully she is going to start playing in the next match against Turkey. She was also very excited about their second victory which encouraged her team a lot for the future in this championship.

Spain surprised Russia winning the third set but the rest of the match ran as expected with the Russian “machinery” dominating in all aspects of the game. Taking the first set 25-11, the second set was tight up until 23-23 before Russian spiker Ekaterina Gamova terminated it in great style (25-23). Then Russia lost concentration in reception of serve and the Spanish block with Elena Garcia Marquez and Lucia Paraja Ramos functioned perfectly with Spain earning the third set deservedly (22-25). Nevertheless, the high Russian block regained the points, mainly with the aid of Yulia Merkulova. Although Spain kept concentrated, the obviously weaker team finally lost the fourth set (25-18) and the match 3:1.
Best scorer of the Russian team was Ekaterina Gamova (29 points) and on Spanish side Elena Garcia Marquez (16 points).
The Russian head coach gave his compliments to the Spanish team during the press conference, commenting that “They only made few mistakes and played really good in defense. Our block wasn’t working during the first two sets, but fortunately it improved in the third and fourth set. Mentally, it seems that my girls still need to be pushed a lot, if not, their concentration decreases.” Aurelio Urena Espa, the Spanish head coach was content with the way his team played: “Block and defense functioned well, but you can always do better! Our setter did a great job and the entire team all gave their best effort during this game.”

After having lost to Bulgaria in their first match in a tiebreak set, the Netherlands secured their first victory beating 2003 silver medallist Turkey 3:1. Starting off the second day of competition very well, the Dutch won the first set 25-22, led mainly by the fantastic spikes and defense of Alice Blom. Turkey woke up in the second set and concluded it with a dramatic 30-28. At the beginning of the third set Turkey retained a small lead throughout with Natalia Hanikoglu scoring from both front row and back row, but the Netherlands caught up 15-15 and finished winning the set 25-21. Both teams had equal chances to win the fourth set. But the Netherlands committed less errors and finally succeeded 25-23. Turkey lost two matches in a row, whilst the Netherlands is looking forward to tomorrow's match against the absolute favourites Russia.
The Dutch head coach commented briefly that the match was tough because both teams wanted their first victory after yesterday's defeats: «We were lucky today, but that's sport!''
Resat Yaziciogullari, Turkish head coach, couldn't hide his disappointment: ''We made so many unnecessary mistakes, and therefore, it was impossible to win! I'm very angry with my girls.''
Best scorers were Turks Neslihan Demir and Natalia Hanikoglu (TUR) with 21 points, whilst Alice Blom booked 15 points for her team.

 

Women’s Indesit European Championship 2005
Preliminary Pool Round in Zagreb and Pula, Croatia (all times CET)

Match Results and Schedule

Preliminary Pool I in Zagreb (CRO)

17.09.2005	15.30	CRO - ROM	1:3	24-26, 18-25, 25-20, 25-27
17.09.2005	18.00	POL - AZE	3:0	26-24, 25-20, 25-23
17.09.2005	20.30	GER - SCG	1:3	22-25, 25-17, 13-25, 16-25
18.09.2005	15.30	AZE - ROM	3:1	26-24, 23-25, 25-17, 25-19
18.09.2005	18.00	SCG - CRO	1:3	25-16, 19-25, 23-25, 16-25
18.09.2005	20.30	POL - GER	3:2	25-22, 23-25, 19-25, 28-26, 15-13
19.09.2005	15.30	ROM - SCG
19.09.2005	18.00	GER - AZE
19.09.2005	20.30	CRO - POL
20.09.2005	REST DAY
21.09.2005	15.30	AZE - SCG
21.09.2005	18.00	POL - ROM
21.09.2005	20.30	GER - CRO
22.09.2005	15.30	SCG - POL
22.09.2005	18.00	ROM - GER
22.09.2005	20.30	CRO - AZE

 

Preliminary Pool I Ranking

1. Poland 4 (6:2), 2. Serbia & Montenegro 3 (4:4), 3. Croatia 3 (4:4), 4. Romania 3 (4:4), 5. Azerbaijan 3 (3:4), 6. Germany 2 (3:5)

 

Preliminary Pool II in Pula (CRO)

17.09.2005	15.30	NED - BUL	2:3	25-17, 18-25, 22-25, 25-17, 14-16
17.09.2005	18.00	ITA - ESP	3:0	25-21, 29-27, 25-21
17.09.2005	20.30	TUR - RUS	0:3	23-25, 24-26, 20-25
18.09.2005	15.30	BUL - ITA	0:3	23-25, 14-25, 20-25
18.09.2005	18.00	RUS - ESP	3:1	25-11, 25-23, 22-25, 25-18
18.09.2005	20.30	TUR - NED	1:3	22-25, 30-28, 21-25, 23-25
19.09.2005	15.30	ESP - BUL
19.09.2005	18.00	ITA - TUR
19.09.2005	20.30	NED - RUS
20.09.2005	REST DAY
21.09.2005	15.30	TUR - ESP
21.09.2005	18.00	NED - ITA
21.09.2005	20.30	RUS - BUL
22.09.2005	15.30	ESP - NED
22.09.2005	18.00	ITA - RUS
22.09.2005	20.30	BUL - TUR

Preliminary Pool II Ranking

1. Italy 4 (6:0), 2. Russia 4 (6:1), 3. Netherlands 3 (5:4), 4. Bulgaria 3 (3:5), 5. Turkey 2 (1:6), 6. Spain 2 (1:6)

Final Four in Zagreb (CRO)

24.09.2005	12.00	Semifinal for 5-8	Match D: 4th Pool I vs. 3rd Pool II
24.09.2005	14.00	Semifinal for 5-8	Match C: 3rd Pool I vs. 4th Pool II
24.09.2005	16.30	Semifinal for 1-4	Match A: 1st Pool I vs. 2nd Pool II
24.09.2005	19.00	Semifinal for 1-4	Match B: 2nd Pool I vs. 1st Pool II
25.09.2005	12.00	Classification 7-8	Loser C vs. Loser D
25.09.2005	14.00	Classification 5-6	Winner C vs. Winner D
25.09.2005	16.30	Bronze Medal Match	Loser A vs. Loser B
25.09.2005	19.00	Final	Winner A vs. Winner B

 

For further information please view www.cev.lu and www.wsech-cro.hr.