Turkey, Belarus, Belgium and Estonia victorious on Day 2 of the Golden #EuroLeagueM
Recap
On Saturday, battles across the Pools A and C of the Golden #EuroLeagueM entertained the Volleyball fans following the games on EuroVolley.TV, enjoying some nice actions on the field.
The reigning Golden #EuroLeagueM champions from Turkey continued with their good performance as on the second day of play in Pool C, they claimed a straight-sets victory over Portugal after having beating 3-1 the Czech Republic this past Friday. Turkey controlled the game during the whole match, led by their star player Adis Lagumdzija who finished once again topping the charts recording 20 points (2 aces).
Lagumdzija was the key player for Turkey since the beginning of the match, but Portugal were able to bring back some intrigue in the second set, showing better skills. Andre Marques was shining with some good actions on the block and in attack, and the whole Portuguese team improved their performance on the serve. However, with the set unfolding, Turkey started dominating on attack again and even though Portugal kept the leadership, Turkey's players weren't giving up. Lagumdzija with an ace closed for 26-24.
The players around head coach Nedim Özbey seized the opportunity in the third set, when Portugal seemed to be lacking concentration, recording some unforced errors.
Belarus, who started this Saturday their Golden #EuroLeagueM journey vs Czech Republic, could do it in the right way, claiming a 3-1 victory over the team coached by Jiri Novak. The players around head coach Viktar Beksha, who will meet Czechia in the Final Round of the #EuroVolleyM later this year, too, managed to seize their opportunities on the attack, and with 56% efficiency in the winning spikes, grabbed the 3 points.
Precisely the better performance on this element helped the Belarus team to seal the victory, as on the other components, both teams showed equal skills (10 blocks each, 7 aces by Belarus compared to 6 by the Czech Republic). Jan Galabov (CZE) and Uladzislau Davyskiba (BLR) led their teams in today's match, both scoring 19 points. Maksim Bahatka supported Davyskiba with 16, helping his team to emerge victorious.
Belgium and Spain delivered a great Volleyball battle in Pool A as both teams showed a real fighting spirit, entertaining with nice rallies the Golden #EuroLeagueM fans. The Red Dragons could emerge victorious in four sets but this doesn't mean Spain weren't giving it their best as they were close to bringing the fixture into a tiebreak. In what can be called a cat-and-mouse game, both Belgium and Spain were breathing down each other's necks keeping the intrigue in each set alive.
Kobe Brems“Of course, we are very happy that we won. We had a bad start today in all the sets and we were struggling. But in the end our block-defence improved and I think this was one of the keys for the win. It's a big opportunity for me to play next to stars like Sam Deroo and Tomas Rousseaux, they support younger and less experienced like me. I think we have a good mix of younger and more experienced players."
Setter of Belgium
A slightly better performance on the attack (65) became the key to the success for the Dragons. Both teams amazed with some monster blocks and recorded 12 and 13 respectively (Spain - Belgium). Spain's August Renato Colito finished with 27 points (3 aces) to his name but his outstanding performance wasn't enough to turn things around. For the Dragons, captain Sam Deroo was the best, scoring 24 points (5 blocks). This is a second win for Belgium at the tournament in Estonia, while Spain are yet to record a victory.
Borja Ruiz“It was a difficult match and we showed good fight as a team. In the decisive moments, small details made the difference in the result. The fourth set was a real thriller and could have gone either way. We lost to a very good team. Our goal is still to make it to the Final Four, so we have to win tomorrow and also play well in the next tournament in Latvia.”
Opposite of Spain
In the other match in Pool A, the hosts of the tournament in Tartu - Estonia, stormed out for a quick 3-0 vs the team of Latvia. The winners of the 2016 and 2018 European Leagues needed only 65 minutes to show a greater class than the opponent, and with no problems to seize the victory. The players of head coach Cedric Enard showed total domination in all the elements and enjoyed the game, finishing with 41 winning spikes, 9 kill blocks and 10 aces. The match was a milestone for team Estonia's middle-blocker Andri Aganits, who represented his country for the 150th time.
Renee Teppan"The service worked well but we have been working with this at practice a lot, so now it's paying off. But we cannot put all our hopes on our service, block-defence is also an important aspect of our game and there we have a lot of room for improvement. I expected a difficult match and Latvia started well and we had some difficult moments today. Tomorrow against Belgium we cannot start like this, we must be more aggressive."
Opposite of Estonia
Only the first set brought some intrigue with both teams following each other in the score. Timo Tammemaa on the serve made it difficult for Latvia's reception and further organisation of the attack. Latvia tried to react and tie the score but Ardo Kreek was impeccable in the decisive moments. In the next two sets, Kreek (14 points in the match) together with Rene Teppan (12) and Albert Hurt (13), with sharp attacks, made it difficult for Latvia's reception. This is the second victory for Estonia. Latvia, on the other hand, are still winless but will have their chances to record a first victory tomorrow, vs the team of Spain.
Avo Keel“In the first set, we could play well as our reception was good. Then Estonia's service improved and at some point almost all of their players created big problems for us. Tomorrow, against Spain, we will try to get the win for sure, and play with a different line-up. This first tournament is still a place for me to test different players and different things, in the next tournament at home we will play with full maximum power.”
Head coach of Latvia