Estonia
Estonia registered their second-ever gold medal in the European League but the first one in the new format of the tournament. In the final in Karlovy Vary, they shut down Final Four hosts Czech Republic in straight sets, partially 25-21, 25-22, 25-21, to add a title in the European League to the one from 2016.
Oliver Venno top-scored for Estonia, who played Final Four without two important starters, with 14 points while Timo Tammemaa added 5 kill blocks. Neither of these two was named MVP of the tournament as Renee Teppan has earned a valuable recognition.
“They wanted to win this match as much as we did. They were playing at home, but we were better. Yesterday, I did not have the feeling we would lose and it was the same today. During the entire Golden European League we lost only one match, and somehow we always had it under control,” Teppan said.
As for the Czechs, Michal Finger was their best scorer with 18 points. Adam Zajíček made 4 kill blocks.
“Of course we are sad that we lost, but in the end, we fought for every ball. They were better and I can only congratulate them on this victory,” Czech Republic head coach Michal Nekola stated.
Both finalists made it to the FIVB Challenger Cup which will be hosted by Portugal, who is another team that will contest the tournament, on June 20-24. The other three teams that will take part in the Challenger Cup are Kazakhstan, Cuba, and Chile. The winners of the tournament will face the last-placed challenger team from the 2018 FIVB Nations League for the spot in the 2019 edition of the tournament.
Turkey won their third-ever medal in the European League, second bronze, by beating Portugal (14 kill blocks as a team) in five sets, partially 25-16, 21-25, 25-14, 22-25, 15-11, with 24 points from Metin Toy.
To see complete results, stats, and standings, visit our Golden European League 2018 / Male / Seniors page.
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