2017 FIVB World League – Group 2 Pool H2
- June 16-18, 2017
- Cairo, Egypt
- Schedule/Results
Slovenia stayed atop Pool H2 with a sweep of Finland Saturday morning, while Portugal matched the Slovenians six points with a four-set win over Egypt.
The teams are set to fight it out for the H2 lead on Sunday.
Slovenia 3, Finland 0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-22)
Slovenia outhit and outblocked Finland in a sweep Saturday morning. The Slovenians managed 41 kills and nine blocks, while allowing just 35 kills, five stuffs and four aces.
Slovenia led 16-12 at the second technical timeout of Set 1 and carried on to the 25-21 win despite a tie at 17-all after a Sauli Sinkkonen kill. Finland surged ahead 8-4 in Set 2, but the teams were soon tied at 12. A back-and-forth battle ensued, but Slovenia broke the final tie at 22 with a pair of Tine Urnaut putaways. Slovenia boasted a 16-13 lead at the second break of Set 3, and held on for the 25-22 win, which came on a Finnish service error.
“Today we played better than yesterday; some players are not in good condition because they have problem with stomach,” Slovenian coach Slobodan Kovac said. “Players who were on the court played very good and generally our service was very strong, block and reception were very good.”
Alen Sket and Tine Urnaut led the Slovenian charge with 15 and 13 points respectively. Urnaut posted a match-high 13 kills, while Sket added 12 kills and three blocks.
Urpo Sivula paced Finland with nine points, tallying eight kills and a block. Elviss Krastins and Sauli Sinkkonen added eight points apiece.
“It’s a pity because we had some occasion to win but we didn’t use them especially in the second set and we lost some easy points,” Finland coach Sammelvuo Tuomas said.
Portugal 3, Egypt 1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-15, 25-21)
Portugal served up 12 aces in a four-set win over Egypt on Saturday to remain atop the pool with Slovenia at 2-0 (6 points).
The Portuguese also posted 56 kills and nine blocks in the match. Egypt managed 43 kills and 11 blocks, but just three aces.
The home side led throughout the first set, building an early three point advantage and taking the stanza 25-22 on a kill by Ahmed Abdelhay. Portugal raced ahead 12-8 and 20-13 before evening the match with a 25-17 win. The Portuguese led 16-7 midway through Set 3 and never let up in a 25-15 victory. Portugal went up 8-4 in Set 4 and maintained the edge to close out the win.
Valdir Sequeira put down 23 points, including 21 kills, to pace Portugal. Lourenco Martins added 16 points, with 11 kills and four aces, while Alexandre Ferreira chipped in 15 points, including two aces and two blocks.
Abdelhay tallied 13 points, with 11 kills, to lead Egypt. Mohamed Masoud (9), Abd Elhalim Mohamed Abou (8) and Ahmed Shafik (8) followed. Abou put up a team-best three blocks, while Masoud and Shafik added seven kills apiece.
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