POLAND AND ITALY COMPETE IN FINAL

Women's Indesit European Championship 2005

Zagreb, Croatia, September 24, 2005. Following six days of competition in the Women’s Indesit European Championship 2005 Final Round in Croatia with a total 34 matches played, the two best teams from 12 have finally been decided, namely defending champion Poland and Italy. Whilst Poland reached the final beating Russia in a five set thriller, Italy overcame Azerbaijan needing only three sets in the second semifinal of the day.
In the classification matches for places five to eight Turkey and the Netherlands proved superior to their opponents Croatia and Serbia & Montenegro, so that Turkey will face the Netherlands to decide on the final fifth and sixth position of this competition.

Poland struggle through semifinal unnecessarily 

POL - RUS 3:2 (26-24, 25-22, 26-28, 20-25, 22-20)
Best scorers: Ekaterina Gamova (RUS/30 points), Dorota Swieniewicz (POL/27 points)

In the first semifinal defending champion Poland faced Russia, the 2004 Olympic Games silver medallist. With all sets being extremely tight and both teams not giving one another a run for their money, the Poles obtained the key points at the end of the first two sets presenting them with a decisive 2:0 lead. However, not being able to seize one of their five (!) match points in the third set, the Poles went on losing sets three and four to a strongly determined Russian squad. Giving away another six match points in the tiebreak set, Poland finally managed to capture the twelfth, after defending one match point for Russia at 14-15, finally closing the tiebreak 22-20.

Team captain Aleksandra Przybysz (POL): “I have no words to describe my feeling right now. We can’t blame anyone but ourselves for having created this drama.”
Head coach Andrzej Niemczyk (POL): “The match was difficult from the first set onwards, as not one team gave up a point. In the third set we gave many points away. My players shouldn’t be allowed to play like this, if they do continue giving points away, they can walk home, no matter whether we win this competition or become second.”
Head coach Giovanni Caprara (RUS): “We haven’t been playing at our best throughout the whole championship. During the first two sets didn’t manage to securely control our game. In the third and fourth set we attacked better than the Polish team. The fifth set speaks for itself.”

ITA - AZE 3:0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-22)
Best scorers: Natalya Mammadova (AZE/22 points), Elisa Togut (ITA/13 points)

The second semifinal between Italy and Azerbaijan was clearly in favour of the Italians who finished sixth in the European Championships 2005. Committing hardly any mistakes, defending solidly, as well as demonstrating a constructive compact attacking game, the Italians were never really in any danger, celebrating a final 3:0 victory.

Team captain Alla Hasanova (AZE): “We played a very bad game today making a lot of mistakes. I hope we will learn from these mistakes and play a better game tomorrow.”
Assistant head coach Aleksandr Chervyakov (AZE): “We played only 50% of what we are able to. Mistakes at the beginning of each set cost us the lead and finally the sets.”
Team captain Simona Rinieri (ITA): “We managed to stop the attack by Azerbaijan quickly and played very well ourselves. Since the beginning of this championship we have shown good volleyball and with one game left we’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
Head coach Marco Bonitta (ITA): “Although we didn’t plan to win I am very satisfied with this result, as Azerbaijan is a team who can beat any other team if they play at their best. This is a great success as the semifinal of each competition is always tough.”

 

Preceding the semifinals between Poland and Russia, respectively Azerbaijan and Italy, four teams were fighting for the fifth and sixth position in order to directly qualify for the Senior European Championship in two years time. Belgium, as host of the Women’s European Championship 2007 Final Round, as well as the six best ranked teams from the 2005 European Championship automatically qualify. The remaining nine teams will be decided through qualification rounds.

Turkey and the Netherlands qualify for next European Championships

TUR - CRO 3:1 (18-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-22)
Best scorers: Barbara Ruzic (CRO/23 points), Maja Poljak (CRO/19 points), Neslihan Demir (TUR/16 points)

Team captain Barbara Ruzic (CRO): “It’s difficult to have lost this match. We tried our best in order to gain direct qualification for the 2007 European Championship but in the deciding moments of the game we made mistakes that we shouldn’t have done.”
Head coach Ivica Jelic (CRO): “Worse than losing the match is that we didn’t manage to qualify for the 2007 Final Round. I can’t blame the girls as they gave everything against the European Vice Champion. The technical mistakes were the reason for losing as they always happened near the end of the sets.”
Head coach Resat Yaziciogullari (TUR): “We improved our game in the second set and I’m happy that we are directly qualified. Congratulations to our second setter who played very disciplined during the fourth set.”

NED - SCG 3:0 (25-15, 25-11, 25-21)
Best scorers: Manon Flier (NED/14 points), Chaine Staelens (NED/13 points), Ivana Djerisilo (SCG/11 points)

Serbia & Montenegro were only able to keep up with the Dutch in the third set, not finding any solution to their opponent’s stable performance in all aspects of the game. In addition, the Eastern Europeans committed a lot more unforced errors than the Netherlands, especially on serve.
The press conference attended by CEV President Mr. André Meyer as well as CEV Vice President Mrs. Riet Ooms followed after the match.

Team captain Vesna Citakovic (SCG): “We have never played worse than this. We just couldn’t find any solution to the Dutch serve, attack nor block. I’m still shocked by this 3:0 defeat but tomorrow we will still fight for seventh place. I guess my team is not yet mature enough to compete in such a high profile competition.”
Head coach Zoran Terzic (SCG): “We started this game as if we wanted to lose. Nothing was working and the players weren’t really on court.”
Team captain Francien Huurman (NED): “I’m proud of my team as we performed a good and solid game.”
Head coach Avital Selinger: “We did what we had to do and I’m very proud of my team for playing so well, especially so soon after we had to digest the disappointment of not having qualified for the Final Four.”

 

Live Score available on www.cev.lu and www.wsech-cro.hr!

 

Women’s Indesit European Championship 2005
Final Four and classification matches in Zagreb (CRO)

Match Results from Saturday, 24^th September 2005 

Final Four in Zagreb (CRO)

12.00	Semifinal for 5-8	Match C: CRO - TUR	1:3	25-18, 22-25, 23-25, 22-25
14.00	Semifinal for 5-8	Match D: SCG - NED	0:3	15-25, 11-25, 21-25
16.30	Semifinal for 1-4	Match A: POL - RUS	3:2	26-24, 25-22, 26-28, 20-25, 22-20
19.00	Semifinal for 1-4	Match B: AZE - ITA	0:3	19-25, 19-25, 22-25

 

Match Schedule for Sunday, 25^th September 2005 (local time)

12.00	Classification 7-8	Loser C vs. Loser D	CRO vs. SCG
14.00	Classification 5-6	Winner C vs. Winner D	TUR vs. NED
16.30	Bronze Medal Match	Loser A vs. Loser B	RUS vs. AZE
19.00	Final	Winner A vs. Winner B	POL vs. ITA

 

Final Ranking

1. Poland or Italy
2. Poland or Italy
3. Russia or Azerbaijan
4. Russia or Azerbaijan
5. Turkey or Netherlands
6. Turkey or Netherlands
7. Croatia or Serbia & Montenegro
8. Croatia or Serbia & Montenegro
9. Bulgaria
9. Romania
11. Germany
11. Spain

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