RUS vs. ITA
Russian players were much more nervous at the start. Kosheleva and Obmochaeva were blocked several times, mostly by Guiggi, while Diouf bombed „Zbornaya“ behind 3-meter line. Both head coaches were nervous, too, especially Russian Marichev, who was arguing with the referees and yelling at his middle blocker Zaryazhko on a time-out. Italy had 8-5 at first TTO and 16-11 at the second. Marichev changed three players from a starting lineup, including Obmochaeva and things began to look better for his team. With 6-0 run, Russia gained 17-16! Italy had 22-20, but Obmochaeva was back, supported by good blocking from her teammates and Russia reached set ball 24-20. Italy leveled 24-24 and had a few set balls of their own, but Russian team was more focused 30-28. First set lasted for almost 45 minutes due to many challenges asked by both coaches in the finish and changed decisions from the referees!
Guiggi pulled ahead Italy in the second set with great blocking anticipation and successful quick attacks, making Marichev furious, 9-5. Errors from „Zbornaya“ occured in a row as main stars Kosheleva and Obmochaeva kept sending spikes outside. On the other side, Del Core was finding some astonishing solutions in the offense, adding few blocks to her performance. Italy got 14-3 run for huge 19-8 lead! Russia did their best to recover, approaching to 23-19, but Italian gap was wide enough 25-20.
There was no chance that Obmochaeva and Kosheleva would play on a poor level more than two sets. Even these two sets were too much for the players of their quality. Kill after kill and they led Russia to 10-5. Italy activated their weapon from previous two sets – blocking – and got 16-15 on the second TTO. They kept one-point lead until 23-all, having Del Core as a leader on the court, but Russia took advantage of poor attack and even the poorest reception from their opponents 25-23.
It was a point for point play in Set 3 with Russia having 8-7 at first TTO. Soon afterwards, they got 10-7. Despite of a huge effort from Italian ladies in defense, Russia went ahead even more 16-12. Italian head coach Bonitta tried to shake up his team with several changes and it temporarily worked, 19-17. Centoni was a real enigma for Russian block and she had her little war with Kosheleva on the other side. Kosheleva won as well as Russia. With two consecutive blocks from Zaryazhko, „Zbornaya“ took 25-20.
The referees made too many wrong calls during the match that had to be corrected with the challenges, but their job was even more difficult due to constant complaints from each coach.
FINAL ROUND / QUARTERFINALS /
| Game | Date/Time | Teams | Set | Result per set | Stats | Videos | ||
| Quarterfinal 1 | 01. 10. 2015 17:00 | Russia ( W ) | vs | Italy ( W ) | 3:1 | 30:28; 20:25; 25:23; 25:20 | ||
| Quarterfinal 2 | 01. 10. 2015 17:30 | Turkey ( W ) | vs | Germany ( W ) | 3:2 | 25:20, 21:25, 20:25, 25:23, 15:12 | ||
| Quarterfinal 3 | 01. 10. 2015 20:00 | The Netherlands ( W ) | vs | Poland ( W ) | 3:1 | 25:16; 23:25; 25:16; 25:15 | ||
| Quarterfinal 4 | 01. 10. 2015 20:30 | Serbia ( W ) | vs | Belgium ( W ) | 3:1 | 19:25; 29:27; 25:11; 25:18 | ||
To see standings, results, stats, videos, etc, visit our European Championship 2015 W page.
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