Czechs Rally, Overcome Two Match Points For Five-Set Win Over Egypt

2017 FIVB World League – Pool F2

• June 9-11, 2017
• Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
• Schedule/Results

The Dutch handled Portugal, while the Czech Republic hung on for a five-set win over Egypt to begin Pool F2 play.

The teams, which moved to 2-2 on the tournament with the victories, will face off Saturday.

Netherlands 3, Portugal 1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-18)

Portugal shocked the prognosticators by taking Set 1 25-22, but didn’t have enough left in the tank to overcome the Dutch in the four-set loss. An error-riddled ending gave the Netherlands a 25-22 win in Set 2 to even the score. Portugal led 16-12, but faltered late in a 25-23 Set 3 decision. The Dutch took no chances in Set 4, cruising to the 25-18 win.

Portugal outblocked the Dutch 11-7 and outserved its foe 3-2, but gave away 30 points on miscues in the match (to 22 for the Netherlands).

Wouter Ter Maat registered a match-high 19 points, including 18 kills, to pace the Dutch attack, while Thijs Ter Horst chipped in 15 points, including 14 putaways. Robbert Andringa (14) added 10 kills and three blocks.

Portugal was led by Joao Simoes, Filip Cveticanin and Alexandre Ferreira, who tallied 16, 15 and 14 points respectively. Each posted double-digit kill tallies with 15, 10 and 11, while Cveticanin added four blocks.

Czech Republic 3, Egypt 2 (22-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23, 16-14)

The Czech’s pleased the home crowd in Ceske Budejovice, rallying from down 2-1 in the match and down 14-12 in the final stanza to take the five-set win over Egypt.

The Czech Republic needed each of its 67 kills to overcome the Egyptians. Egypt tallied 56 putaways,  outblocked their foe 10-6 and outserved them 12-8.

A strong service game, including four straight aces by Ahmed Abdelhay, gave Egypt a 9-4 lead in Set 5. The Czechs narrowed the gap to two at 12-10 and thwarted two Egyptian match points, tying it at 14-all on a block. An ace clinched the Czech Republic victory.

Michal Finger and Petr Michalek paced a group of five Czech players with double-digit point tallies. Each posted 13 kills and an ace. Jan Hadrava (11), Adam Bartos (11) and Vladimir Sobotka (11) followed. Hadrava served up two aces, while Ales Holubec put up a team-best three blocks.

Abdelhay scored a match-high 22 points, with 14 kills, seven aces and a block. Abd Elhalim Mohamed Abou added 18 points, including a match-leading 16 kills, while Mohamed Masoud and Ahmed Shafik chipped in 12 points each.