After beating Finland by a 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 34-32) in Gdańsk in a game with the most dramatic set so far in the tournament, a third set, Serbia advanced to the quarterfinals as the top seed from Pool A with 3-0 and 8 points. Uroš Kovačević and Aleksandar Atanasijević made 12 points each for Serbia. Now, Finland will have to wait for the outcome of the Estonia vs. Poland match (20:30 CET) to know if they will play the Playoffs (the 8th Finals). Namely, the hope of Finland is focused on the hosts as any win from them guarantees the spot in the knockout stage for the Scandinavians.
One of the most pleasant surprises of the 2017 EuroVolley, Germany, kept their invincibility by downing Slovakia in straight sets in Szczecin and advanced to the quarterfinals. In the absence of Georg Grozer, Christian Fromm took the leadership on the field for Germany, scoring 12 points. In the second match of Pool B, today, Italy and the Czech Republic will fight for No.2 in the pool (20:30 CET) as they both secured a berth in the Playoffs thanks to the win of Germany against Slovakia.
In Pool C in Kraków, Bulgaria swept Slovenia 3-0 to claim the second place but both sides have already qualified for the elimination stage. Russia will be the top seed regardless of the result of their game against Spain (20:30 CET). Tsvetan Sokolov notched 21 points for Bulgaria.
And finally, in Pool D in Katowice, in the neighborly derby, the Belgian NT remained undefeated as they outclassed The Netherlands 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-21) with the 11 points each from Simon van de Voorde and Tomas Rousseaux. Thus, the “Red Dragons” eliminated the Dutch NT from the tournament and went to the quarterfinals as No.1 in the pool. At the same time, they left France and Turkey to fight for No.2 but, which is more important for both sides, Belgium promoted them to the Playoffs.
All in all, there is only one dilemma regarding the Playoff participants which the evening matches will eliminate – Who will advance from Pool A?
Today’s schedule, Round 3:
POOL A
Serbia vs. Finland 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 34-32)
Estonia vs. Poland (20:30 CET)
POOL B
Slovakia vs. Germany 0-3 (18-25, 24-26, 23-25)
Italy vs. Czech Republic (20:30 CET)
POOL C
Slovenia vs. Bulgaria 0-3 (22-25, 26-28, 17-25)
Russia vs. Spain (20:30 CET)
POOL D
Belgium vs. The Netherlands 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-21)
Turkey vs. France (20:30 CET)
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