Bosnia with an impressive win over Spain in Golden #EuroLeagueW, new points for Croatia and Romania
Recap
On Wednesday the national teams of Romania and Hungary met in the last match of the League Round of Golden #EuroLeague in Pool C. In the end, it was Romania with a new win over Hungary. Last time Romania have beaten them by 2:3 and this time it was an “easy” win with 3:0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-13).
The first set was a tough one for both teams with constant point-by-point rallies. But, Romania managed to separate from the Hungarians and with five points in the row got to 18-12. From that point on it was Romania took complete control and with 25-20 won the first set.
The next set brought us some exciting ups and downs since none of the teams was in the complete lead. From 3-2 to 3-9 we were looking at complete domination from Hungary which soon was taken over by Romania. They went from 3-9 to 8-9 and Hungary managed to get back up to 10-10. Then Romania took the matters into their hands again and got to 17-11 and finished the whole set with 25-21.
The third set was completely taken over by Romania who was hungry for a 3:0 win and they for sure made it happen. From a 7-4 lead they went ahead to eight points advance (16-8) and later on even to ten points advantage (23-13), while they’ve finished the set and the whole match with +12 (25-12).
The national teams of Slovakia and Croatia have also met on Wednesday where Croatians took new points in the thrilling 2:3 win (25-20, 25-21, 23-25, 18-25, 13-15).
It was an equal game in the first set, up until the separation from Slovakia at 14-10. With four aces and three monster blocks, the Slovakian team showed good ability and competence to take the first set from the 2021 runner-up. Slovakia then went ahead to 16-11 and finished the set with 25-20.
The second set was a cat-and-mouse game where it was played completely point-by-point. Slovakia only managed to separate at the very end at 18-20 where Croatia couldn’t stop the strong blocks from their opponents. The set ended with 25-21 and another win for Slovakia in sets.
In the third set, Croatians managed to secure an important win. They started off equally and Croatia managed to separate at 8-8 (to 8-13) with five points advantage. However, Slovakia managed to come back to 18-18 but it was Croatia in this set who scored the win with 23-25 and they needed one more in order to get back to the game completely.
And they did. In the fourth set Slovakia started off with a 5-0 series and it looked as if they are here to lock this match. They even went to six points advantage (10-4) but Croatia came completely back in the match with 12-12 equalization. At 18-21, Croatia was in the lead after which Slovakia couldn’t find any new solution as to how to stop them and Croatians took this set with 18-25 and the fifth one was going to decide the match. In the end, it was Croatia who took an important win with 13-15 and won the whole match.
The situation in Pool B is as follows: the Czech Republic is first with nine points, in second place is Croatia with five points and in third and last place is Slovakia with one point.
In Pool A the national teams of Spain and Bosnia and Herzegovina have met where the 2021 CEV Volleyball European Silver League winners Bosnia took an important and impressive 0:3 win (16-25, 18-25, 24-26) over last year’s Golden League bronze medalists Spain.
In the first set, Bosnia managed to separate from the Spaniards at the very beginning (3-8) and got to a 7-15 lead and eight points advantage. It only got bigger and soon they got to nine points lead (11-20) and they’ve locked the set with 16-25 and three aces, while Spain didn’t have any.
The second set started off similar to the first one where Bosnia separated in the early beginning. From 2-2 to 3-7 and then 4-10 Bosnia was completely in the game and was ready to take this win. Spain managed to get close in the middle of the set with 13-14 but with a couple of blocks, Bosnia was back in the game and scored a new win in the sets with 18-25.
At the beginning of the third set, it looked like Bosnia was going to lock this set and match since Spain couldn’t find any new solutions to their game. But everything changed in the middle of the set when teams started to play point-by-point (13-13). Up until the very end, the winner of the set was up in the air but in the end, it was Bosnia who took a set win (24-26) and an impressive match win. This was their first win in this year’s competition and it was visible on their faces at the end of the match how much this win meant to them.
The situation in Pool A is as follows: France is in the first place with nine points, Bosnia and Herzegovina is in second place with three points and Spain is third with also three points.