POLAND BLOCK THEIR WAY TO EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP 2005 TITLE

Women's Indesit European Championship 2005

Zagreb, Croatia, September 25, 2005. Defeating Italy 3:1 in the final of the Women’s Indesit European Championship 2005, Poland successfully defended their European Champion title after having won the previous edition in 2003 in Turkey. The bronze medal was captured by Russia who beat Azerbaijan in straight sets.

In presence of CEV President Mr. André Meyer, CEV Vice President Mrs. Riet Ooms, CEV Vice President and President of the Serbia & Montenegro Volleyball Federation Mr. Aleksander Boricic as well as the President of the Croatian Volleyball Federation Mr. Ante Bakovic, as well as several Polish and Italian volleyball fanatics and Croatian spectators, Poland celebrated their second title in European Championship history, following their victory in 2003 against Turkey.

No team managed to gain a decisive lead in the first set with a maximum point difference of two until Malgorzata Glinka scored, Sylwia Pycia blocked successfully at the touch of her first ball in the match, as head coach Andrzej Niemczyk just sent her on court, and Italy provided Poland with the set victory following a mistake on their side (25-23).
Italy pulled away in the second set (6-9) but again Malgorzata Glinka’s attacks resulted in the levelling of the score to 15-15. Whilst Agata Mroz and the most valuable player of the tournament Dorota Swieniewicz realised an impressively high percentage of attacks for Poland, the Italians also despaired of the solid Polish wall. Leading 23-19 in the second set the Poles experienced a déjà-vu from their semifinal match where they allowed their opponents to catch up in the decisive moment of the set, thus Italy returned under the impulse of Antonella Del Core, seizing two set points (23-24, 24-25). Great defense from Poland though resulted in the final 27-25 set victory for the reigning European Champion, taking a 2:0 lead.
The Italians went ahead once again in the third set but this time managed to pull through until the end, reducing Poland’s set lead (2:1).
Whilst Antonella Del Core and Elisa Togut booked points for the Italian team, Dorota Swieniewicz, Malgorzata Glinka as well as Agata Mroz seemed unstoppable on Polish side and together with Katarzyna Skowronska on block they showed no mercy towards the Italian opposition. After each successful block followed a successful attack, so that Poland finally sealed the match winning the fourth set 25-18.
Best scorer was Italian Elisa Togut with 21 points, whilst Malgorzata Glinka (20 points) and Dorota Swieniewicz (19 points) achieved the highest score on Polish side.
“There are no words to describe my feelings right now”, commented Polish team captain Aleksandra Przybysz at the following press conference, “Although the Championship started very sadly when we heard about the loss of our good colleague Arkadiusz Golas, we are happy to have won the competition and would like to dedicate the gold medal to him.”


Russia seizes bronze 

RUS - AZE 3:0 (25-20, 25-10, 25-21)
Best scorers: Ekaterina Gamova (RUS/16 points), Natalya Mammadova (AZE/15 points)

Russia took a successful revenge beating Azerbaijan in straight sets after having lost to the same team in Guba (AZE) in July this year during the final of the European Qualification Tournament for the 2006 World Grand Prix. This time however the Russian team wasn’t severely challenged by Azerbaijan who presented the team coached by Italian Giovanni Caprara with 21 unforced errors opposed to only eight mistakes by the Russian team.
Assistant coach Aleksandr Chervyakov (AZE): “We wanted to play better than we managed. It seemed as if all the other games have taken a lot of energy out of the players and they weren’t able to recuperate in order to win one more. Our aim was to reach the semifinal which we achieved.”
Head coach Giovanni Caprara (RUS): “At this moment of time I was supposed to be preparing my team for the final match because we should be in the final. It is difficult to be satisfied with the bronze when you know you should haven been in the final. This 3:0 victory confirms that the whole team around the players has done their job excellently during this summer as we weren’t able to beat Azerbaijan the last three times we played them. I hope that the final will show better volleyball.”
Serbia & Montenegro won the classification match for seventh place against host Croatia, whilst the Netherlands beat European Vice Champion Turkey to finish fifth.

Individual Awards:

MVP: Dorota SWIENIEWICZ (POL)
Best Spiker: Elena GODINA (RUS)
Best Server: Alla HASANOVA (AZE)
Best Blocker: Ozlem OZCELIK (TUR)
Best Libero: Valeriya KOROTENKO (AZE)
Best Setter: Eleonora LO BIANCO (ITA)
Best Receiver: Gulden KAYALAR (TUR)

 

More information 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 Sunday, 25^th September 2005

12.00	Classification 7-8	CRO vs. SCG	0:3	22-25, 21-25, 14-25
14.00	Classification 5-6	TUR vs. NED	1:3	18-25, 25-12, 21-25, 20-25
16.30	Bronze Medal Match	RUS vs. AZE	3:0	25-20, 25-10, 25-21
19.00	Final	POL vs. ITA	3:1	25-23, 27-25, 21-25, 25-18

 

Match Results from Saturday, 24^th September 2005

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

 

Final Ranking

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

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