Kaliningrad, Russia, November 12, 2011. Russia and Romania qualified this afternoon for the final match of the Olympic pre-qualification tournament that is currently taking place in Kaliningrad. A total of 4’500 fans attended the match whereby the home heroines easily disposed of Spain in straight sets (25-14, 25-10, 25-15) and where the 2006 and 2010 World champions totally dominated the scene, leaving no chance to their opponents.
After a very disappointing campaign at the European Championship in Italy, Russia is definitely back on top and has qualified for the final act of this Olympic pre-qualifier without losing a set in three matches. Ekaterina Gamova – who scored 18 points this afternoon – was named MVP of this game and she showed her physical skills and quality by blocking the Spanish attacks even without having to jump in order to stop her opponents.
Russia’s next opponent will be Romania that this afternoon claimed the second semifinal against Belgium with the score of 3:1 (19-25, 27-25, 25-21, 25-21). It was a very intense game, with the young Belgian girls being able to take home the opening set in spite of their many mistakes. However, Romania gradually found its best rhythm and blocked regularly Belgium’s wing spiker Hélène Rousseaux that, after being named MVP in her previous game, today could finally score only 8 points for her side. Charlotte Leys fought bravely and amassed 22 points for Belgium but she also slowed her pace down after a stellar performance in the first set. Finally Romania had the upper hand with good team work and a very good efficiency registered for all attackers.
