2018 FIVB World Championship – Men’s European Qualifier
- May 23 to June 4
- Results
Pool C play of the European Qualification for the 2018 FIVB Men’s World Championships got under way Wednesday in Ljubljana, Slovenia. After quick victories for Belgium and Slovenia, the third match of the pool brought the excitement as No. 29 Israel topped No. 25 Latvia in a five-setter that came down to the wire at 16-14 in the fifth set.
Belgium 3, Portugal 0
Belgium made short work of Portugal to start Pool C play on Wednesday, taking a 25-17, 25-16, 25-16 win.
The Belgian side never trailed after being the first two eight points in all three sets. In Set 1, the team worked its way to an 8-4 lead and boosted the lead to seven at 21-14 before taking the win. In Set 2, an 8-5 score turned into leads to 16-10 and 21-13 en route to a 25-16 victory. Belgium distanced itself early in Set 3, going up 8-3 and leading by eight at 16-8 before taking the nine point victory at 25-16 to close out the match.
Belgium outblocked Portugal 6-2 and hit at a 57 percent clip in the match while holding its foes to a 43 percent effort.
Gert Van Walle and Sam Deroo each chipped in 11 points to lead the Belgian effort. Van Walle managed nine kills and two blocks, while Deroo added eight kills, two blocks and an ace.
“We played with much consistency and were better in every aspect of the game,” Deroo said. “Our team showed that we can play without making mistakes and with Portugal making a lot of them, it was a bit easier for us to claim the victory,”
Filip Cveticanin and Lourenco Martins accounted for eight points apiece to top the Portuguese scoring.
Slovenia 3, Georgia 0
Slovenia cruised to a sweep of Georgia, never trailing in a 25-12, 25-11, 25-12 victory. Slovenia hit at a 69 percent clip for the match and used 10 blocks and five aces to limit Georgia.
Slovenia went up 8-3 in the first set and never looked back, boasting a 16-8 lead at the midway point and eventually winning by 13. Set 2 started a bit closer with the teams just two points apart at 8-6 at the first timeout. Slovenia however, scored eight of the next 10 to pull away en route to the 25-11 win. The Slovenians carried the momentum into Set 3, jumping ahead 8-2 and leading by 10 at 16-6 before closing out the match at 25-12.
Alen Sket led Slovenia with 11 points, including nine kills and two aces. Toncek Stern followed with 10 points, including seven kills and three blocks. Matej Kok and Saso Stalekar added eight points each.
“It was a great opportunity for us, I mean for the younger players to show what we are capable of,” Kok said. “It is true that Georgia was one of the easiest opponents in our pool, but I think we delivered a solid performance. This victory raised our self-confidence, but the toughest matches are yet to come.”
Mikheil Jajvani was the top scored for Georgia with five points.
Israel 3, Latvia 2
Israel fought from behind to steal away a 19-25, 25-20, 24-26, 25-22, 16-14 win over Latvia in the day’s most exciting match. Israel racked up 14 blocks in the match and served up eight aces, while Latvia hit at a 48 percent clip.
Israel led 5-4 early in the decisive fifth set, but had to fight back from down 12-10 to steal away the victory at 16-14. One more block and one more kill were the difference in the final stanza.
Latvia led Set 1 throughout, going up five at 8-3 and building the lead to eight at 21-13 later in the stanza en route to the 25-19 win. Latvia hit at a 64 percent clip in the opening set. Set 2 belonged to Isreal from wire to wire as the team turned an 8-3 edge into a 16-8 lead and never looked back, racking up four aces. The momentum swung back to Latvia in Set 3, although the teams traded points throughout, before Latvia took a 21-19 advantage and hung on to win 26-24. Isreal evened the match with a 25-22 Set 4 win, including six blocks, and forcing the fifth set.
“We tried to play with a lot of energy and fought for every rally,” Israel’s Viacheslav Batchkala said. “We do not have our best player with us at this tournament. Our coach wanted to give the opportunity to young players and I am happy that we won the game. We will give our best in the next matches as well.”
Batchkala led all hitters with 29 points, including 18 kills, eight blocks and two aces. Iliya Goldrin (12), Dmitri Zemlianukhin (12) and Genadi Sokolov (10) also added double-digit point tallies. Sokolov managed five blocks, while Zemlianukhin accounted for 12 kills.
Romans Sauss paced Latvia with 23 points, including a match-best 21 kills. Edvarts Buivids added 15 points, while Toms Svans chipped in 11.
Pool C in SLO
| Matches | W | L | Pts. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
SLOVENIA
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
|
BELGIUM
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
|
ISRAEL
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
|
LATVIA
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
|
PORTUGAL
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
|
GEORGIA
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
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