2018 Men’s European Volleyball League: Pool Play Comes to a Close

2018 MEN’S EUROPEAN VOLLEYBALL LEAGUE

• May 19th-June 16th, 2018
• European Volleyball League Homepage

Pool play finished up today in the 2018 Men’s European Volleyball League, leaving us with just the Final Four to play. Those teams that all advance on to the next round as well as the final results in each pool can be seen below.

FORMAT:

In the 15th edition of the Men’s European Volleyball League, the tournament is split into two divisions: a 12-team Golden League and an eight-team Silver League. All teams are split into four-team pools for their division. In the Golden League, all three pool winner plus Czech Republic (or the team in second if they win their pool), the Final Round host, advance. In the Silver League, the winner of each pool, the next best team and host-Macedonia will advance to the last four.

Overall, this event acts as a qualifier for two teams to the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Challenger Cup, which provides an opportunity to make the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Nations League.

THE FINAL ROUND:

Golden League:

#1 Estonia, #2 Portugal, #3 Turkey, #4 Czech Republic

Silver League:

Pool A: #1 Latvia, #2 Macedonia

Pool B: #1 Belarus, #2 Croatia

RESULTS:

Golden League

POOL A

In a shocking upset on the final day, Sweden not only took down Belgium but swept them. To show how big of an underdog they were, Belgium was -5000 on BetDSI, indicating a bettor would have to place $50 just to earn $1. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter much though, because Estonia won in sweep fashion, so even a 3-0 win for Belgium wouldn’t have done them any good. That means Estonia is on to the Final Four as the lone representative from the pool.

Matches		W	Sets			Points
Rank	Team		L	Pts	W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	Estonia	5	1	15	15	6	2.500	509	435	1.170
2	Belgium	4	2	11	13	9	1.444	501	487	1.029
3	Sweden	2	4	6	9	12	0.750	465	491	0.947
4	Slovakia	1	5	4	6	16	0.375	465	527	0.882

Schedule:

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
19 May	16:00	Sweden	1–3	Belgium	20–25	25–23	21–25	17–25		83–98	Report
19 May	18:00	Slovakia	1–3	Estonia	22–25	26–24	19–25	17–25		84–99	Report
23 May	18:00	Slovakia	3–1	Sweden	25–23	25–18	19–25	25–16		94–82	Report
23 May	20:00	Estonia	3–1	Belgium	25–16	25–20	27–29	25–17		102–82	Report
26 May	20:00	Estonia	3–1	Sweden	25–22	18–25	25–23	25–17		93–87	Report
26 May	20:30	Belgium	3–2	Slovakia	25–22	25–17	22–25	25–27	15–13	112–104	Report
30 May	20:00	Slovakia	0–3	Belgium	23–25	18–25	17–25			58–75	Report
30 May	20:00	Sweden	0–3	Estonia	17–25	17–25	20–25			54–75	Report
2 Jun	19:00	Sweden	3–0	Slovakia	27–25	32–30	25–21			84–76	Report
3 Jun	17:30	Belgium	3–0	Estonia	29–27	25–19	25–19			79–65	Report
6 Jun	20:00	Estonia	3–0	Slovakia	25–14	25–15	25–20			75–49	Report
6 Jun	20:30	Belgium	0–3	Sweden	22–25	15–25	18–25			55–75	Report

POOL B

Netherlands came so close to usurping Turkey atop the Pool B standings on the final day, as they took down Slovenia in four sets and saw Ukraine defeat Turkey. However, the loss came in five sets for the Turkish side, meaning they grabbed a point to give them one more than the Dutch. It was a strong effort on the finish, but now Turkey will move on to the Final Four.

Matches		W	Sets			Points
Rank	Team		L	Pts	W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	Turkey	4	2	13	16	8	2.000	543	513	1.058
2	Netherlands	4	2	12	16	12	1.333	631	563	1.121
3	Ukraine	3	3	9	13	13	1.000	563	573	0.983
4	Slovenia	1	5	2	5	17	0.294	441	529	0.834

Schedule:

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
20 May	15:30	Turkey	3–0	Ukraine	25–23	25–23	25–20			75–66	Report
20 May	15:00	Netherlands	3–1	Slovenia	25–12	24–26	25–15	25–22		99–75	Report
23 May	15:30	Turkey	3–2	Netherlands	25–23	21–25	25–20	20–25	15–12	106–105	Report
23 May	18:00	Ukraine	3–0	Slovenia	25–23	25–23	25–18			75–64	Report
26 May	17:00	Netherlands	2–3	Ukraine	25–15	20–25	25–20	24–26	13–15	107–101	Report
27 May	20:00	Slovenia	0–3	Turkey	21–25	20–25	16–25			57–75	Report
30 May	15:30	Turkey	3–0	Slovenia	25–22	25–15	25–19			75–56	Report
30 May	20:00	Ukraine	2–3	Netherlands	25–22	17–25	20–25	25–23	10–15	97–110	Report
2 Jun	17:00	Netherlands	3–2	Turkey	24–26	25–21	25–22	23–25	15–9	112–103	Report
3 Jun	20:00	Slovenia	3–2	Ukraine	25–20	21–25	21–25	25–23	16–14	108–107	Report
6 Jun	20:00	Ukraine	3–2	Turkey	31–29	23–25	23–25	25–19	15–11	117–109	Report
6 Jun	20:00	Slovenia	1–3	Netherlands	19–25	23–25	25–23	14–25		81–98	Report

POOL C

It’s not often you see a 5-1 team with just 12 points, but Portugal found themselves on the right side of three five-set victories in their six matches. Had they fallen in the finale to Czech Republic and Finland earned a win, the Finnish side would have actually won Pool C. The Czech side didn’t have too much to play for though as they already were secured a spot in the Final Four as hosts. Additionally, Spain upended Finland to round out pool play.

Matches		W	Sets			Points
Rank	Team		L	Pts	W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	Portugal	5	1	12	15	11	1.364	586	572	1.024
2	Finland	3	3	10	14	12	1.167	580	574	1.010
3	Spain	2	4	7	11	13	0.846	542	562	0.964
4	Czech Republic	2	4	7	10	14	0.714	548	548	1.000

Schedule:

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
19 May	15:00	Portugal	3–1	Spain	25–18	25–20	22–25	25–22		97–85	Report
19 May	19:00	Finland	3–0	Czech Republic	25–20	25–20	27–25			77–65	Report
23 May	20:00	Czech Republic	1–3	Finland	23–25	25–21	19–25	21–25		88–96	Report
23 May	20:45	Spain	3–0	Portugal	27–25	25–17	29–27			81–69	Report
26 May	19:00	Finland	2–3	Portugal	25–17	15–25	19–25	25–21	13–15	97–103	Report
26 May	19:00	Czech Republic	3–1	Spain	25–13	25–18	19–25	27–25		96–81	Report
30 May	18:00	Czech Republic	2–3	Portugal	25–19	25–19	27–29	21–25	13–15	111–107	Report
30 May	19:30	Finland	3–2	Spain	25–23	22–25	25–20	21–25	15–11	108–104	Report
3 Jun	18:00	Spain	1–3	Czech Republic	25–22	24–26	21–25	21–25		91–98	Report
3 Jun	17:00	Portugal	3–2	Finland	25–22	21–25	25–21	28–30	15–10	114–108	Report
6 Jun	18:30	Portugal	3–1	Czech Republic	19–25	27–25	25–21	25–19		96–90	Report
6 Jun	20:45	Spain	3–1	Finland	31–29	25–22	19–25	25–18		100–94	Report

Silver League

POOL A

Latvia was the only nation to make it out of pool play at 6-0 in either league, doing so impressively be winning 18 of the 21 sets they appeared in. They did get one final challenge from Austria though with the match going to five sets, but Latvia escaped and won the total score 108-106. In most cases Austria would have made the Final Four, but Macedonia gets to host the round and steals the bid away from the European bunch.

Matches		W	Sets			Points
Rank	Team		L	Pts	W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	Latvia	6	0	17	18	3	6.000	511	397	1.287
2	Austria	4	2	13	15	8	1.875	545	477	1.143
3	Macedonia	2	4	6	8	13	0.615	475	481	0.988
4	Kosovo	0	6	0	1	18	0.056	294	470	0.626

Schedule:

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
19 May	17:30	Austria	1–3	Latvia	21–25	25–21	17–25	22–25		85–96	Report
20 May	16:30	Kosovo	1–3	Macedonia	25–20	16–25	17–25	14–25		72–95	Report
23 May	17:30	Kosovo	0–3	Austria	18–25	12–25	17–25			47–75	Report
23 May	19:30	Latvia	3–0	Macedonia	25–17	25–16	25–19			75–52	Report
26 May	18:00	Latvia	3–0	Kosovo	25–12	25–8	25–14			75–34	Report
27 May	20:30	Macedonia	1–3	Austria	18–25	25–22	20–25	31–33		94–105	Report
30 May	17:00	Kosovo	0–3	Latvia	21–25	9–25	20–25			50–75	Report
30 May	20:15	Austria	3–1	Macedonia	25–20	23–25	26–24	25–20		99–89	Report
2 Jun	20:15	Austria	3–0	Kosovo	25–11	25–12	25–20			75–43	Report
3 Jun	20:15	Macedonia	0–3	Latvia	26–28	27–29	17–25			70–82	Report
6 Jun	19:30	Latvia	3–2	Austria	25–23	25–20	20–25	23–25	15–13	108–106	Report
6 Jun	20:15	Macedonia	3–0	Kosovo	25–17	25–10	25–21			75–48	Report

POOL B

Belarus and Croatia both kept pace with each other on the final day of pool play, earning victories to finish 5-1. Things were more difficult for Croatia though, who needed five sets compared to three for Belarus. Both nations were already locked into advancing to the Final Four, but the results switch up the match-ups ahead in the elimination round now that Belarus is the Pool B champion.

Matches		W	Sets			Points
Rank	Team		L	Pts	W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	Belarus	5	1	15	16	4	4.000	474	390	1.215
2	Croatia	5	1	14	16	6	2.667	513	423	1.213
3	Albania	1	5	5	7	16	0.438	478	544	0.879
4	Hungary	1	5	2	4	17	0.235	397	505	0.786

Schedule:

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
19 May	20:00	Croatia	3–0	Hungary	25–12	25–16	25–14			75–42	Report
20 May	18:00	Belarus	3–0	Albania	25–23	25–23	25–21			75–67	Report
23 May	16:00	Hungary	1–3	Albania	25–22	21–25	21–25	23–25		90–97	Report
23 May	19:00	Belarus	1–3	Croatia	25–21	17–25	19–25	20–25		81–96	Report
26 May	17:00	Croatia	3–0	Albania	25–15	25–23	25–21			75–59	Report
26 May	19:00	Belarus	3–0	Hungary	25–17	25–18	25–15			75–50	Report
30 May	18:30	Hungary	0–3	Croatia	17–25	19–25	18–25			54–75	Report
30 May	20:00	Albania	0–3	Belarus	17–25	22–25	14–25			53–75	Report
2 Jun	19:00	Albania	2–3	Hungary	26–28	19–25	25–21	29–27	9–15	108–116	Report
2 Jun	20:00	Croatia	1–3	Belarus	25–18	17–25	16–25	21–25		79–93	Report
6 Jun	16:00	Hungary	0–3	Belarus	16–25	12–25	17–25			45–75	Report
6 Jun	20:00	Albania	2–3	Croatia	11–25	18–25	29–27	25–21	11–15	94–113	Report