Ukraine, Turkey fly to the Golden #EuroLeagueM Final Four, Belgium, Estonia and Czechia record wins
Recap
With the end of the League Round of the Golden #EuroLeagueM getting closer, all eyes are on the matches played in Pool A, Pool B and Pool C.
On Friday, the defending champions from Turkey booked their ticket for the Final Four of the competition after seizing another 3-0 win, this time vs Belarus in a re-match of the 2019 Final.
In Pool B, Ukraine outclassed Romania at 3-1, and also secured a spot at the final tournament that will take place on June 19-20 in Kortrijk (BEL).
Turkey and Ukraine join hosts Belgium, which means that there is only one ticket left, but who will grab it, will be decided in the remainder of the matches that will take place during the weekend.
Pool A
Estonia stunned again Spain at the start of the second tournament in Pool A. On Friday, the players around head coach Cedric Enard came back after losing the first set, and with 11 aces and showing much better performance on the attack, claimed the 3-1 victory.
Cedric Enard“In the beginning, I was little bit worried, because we started bad; we were struggling in reception. However, we found back our rhythm in the end of the first set. The guys showed a better performance in all the elements in the next sets."
Head coach of Estonia
This is 4th consecutive victory for the Estonian players, who, with 11 points, top the charts in the current standing in the group. The Spanish Augusto Renato Colito, who in the previous days was helping a lot his team in the decisive moments, on Friday was struggling to find his game. For Estonia, the experienced Oliver Venno was once again the best on the field, becoming top scorer with 26 points to his name.
Ricardo Maldonado"Congratulations to Estonia. We did not play good, we had many problems in reception and in organising the attack. We have to forget this match very quickly.”
Head coach of Spain
The hosts of the Final Four, Belgium have also congratulated themselves with a victory, outclassing at 3-1 the team of Latvia. With 10 points, they breath down Estonia's necks in the battle for the first place. Both teams will lock horns in a direct clash on Saturday, June 5.
In the match vs Latvia, the Red Dragons controlled slightly better on the serving line, finishing with two aces more, and took their chances provoking Latvia's errors. Latvia, on the other hand, pushed hard on the block (15 compared to 8 by Belgium) but it wasn't enough to record a first victory in the Pool. Overall, both teams were following each other in the result and showing equal skills on attack (both finishing with 47% efficiency on the winning spikes). The first set being the most intriguing one where the two aces by the Dragons were of utmost importance for emerging victorious and taking the lead. Tomas Rousseaux from the winner's team finished as top scorer with 23 points to his name. For Latvia, Kristaps Smits was the best with 18 points.
Fernando Muñoz Benitez“We knew that Team Latvia can serve well . So we prepared the game from this perspective and trying to keep a good level on our side of the net. Of course, there were moments when we struggled. We should improve on block-defence, but in any case, this game was a good one for our young players.”
Head coach of Belgium
Pool B
Ukraine also continue on the right path in Pool B as on Friday they secured another 3 points after outclassing Romania at 3-1. Oleh Plotnytskyi and his teammates lost the first set but then came back to claim the win, and secure the first place in the group after three matches played, having collected 9 points so far.
Romania tried their best and put up a real fight in each one of the following sets, showing equal skills in the different components. It was, however, the slightly better performance on attack and the 11 blocks that helped Ukraine to remain on the winning path. Oleh Plotnytskyi and Dmytro Viietskyi topped the charts, each one of them contributing with 16 points for their team's win.
Pool C
The defending Golden #EuroLeagueM champions from Turkey extended their winning streak to 4 victories out of 4 matches, and unbeaten, top the charts in the current standings in Pool C with 12 points. In a re-match of the 2019 final vs Belarus, the players coached by Nedim Özbey seized a straight-sets victory, showing smart play in decisive moments and taking advantage of Belarus' unforced errors.
In the first match of the day in Desportivo Municipal de SANTO TIRSO, the Turkish players needed 84 minutes to claim the win, thanks to their main "weapons" - 11 blocks and 7 aces. Adis Lagumdzija didn't disappoint his teammates, recording 19 points (4 aces), becoming top scorer and top server. Bedirhan Bülbül recorded 4 blocks for his team's win.
Mert Karatop“We are happy with the result and the performance. This was the fourth victory in a row for us and we are getting closer to our goal, which is qualifying for the Final Four. We are two matches away from being able to guarantee our presence in the next phase and so we want to win Saturday’s match against Portugal and Sunday’s fixture against the Czech Republic. We know we have to continue to play at this level to achieve our goals.”
Assistant coach of Turkey
Czechia took a sweet revenge on Portugal for the 2-3 loss at the beginning of the League Round as they seized a straight-sets victory over the team coached by Hugo Silva. Jiri Novak's players claimed the win in only 74 minutes, outclassing the opponents in all the components.
In the first set, it seemed that Portugal could put up some real fight but not taking it meant that Ivo Casas and his teammates entered the court in the next set struggling to find their game. With 17 winning spikes in the next set, Czechia dominated on attack. Nothing changed in the last set, and the inspired Czech players pushed even more on the block. Lukas Vasina and Michal Finger from the Czech Republic finished with 16 points each, Jan Galabov recorded 8. For Portugal, brothers Alexandre Ferreira and Marco Evan Ferreira scored 7 times each. After this victory, Czechia are third placed in the current standings, with one win and 4 points, while Portugal are last with one win and 3 points.
Jiri Novak“We are very happy with today’s performance. We had some expectations about how the team would react in this match and the response the players gave could not have been any better. More important than the victory was that we played with our heart. I think that this game has greatly increased our team’s confidence for the next matches. Tomorrow is a new day and a different match, but if we start motivated and play like we did today, everything is possible.”
Head coach of Czech Republic