Estonia – Romania
Estonia claimed a very tough but well-deserved victory in the first game of tournament hosted in Bulgaria’s capital city. Estonia started the game very strong, leading 6:1 before calling for the first technical time-out at 8:3. However, Romania fought their way back to level the score at 9 all and that trend continue for a little while as the teams were evenly matched up to 12:12. After that the guys from Estonia scored five consecutive points and Romania was no more able to compensate for this break, with Estonia bringing it home at 25-21.
Estonia dictated the pace of the game by 3 points at the first technical time-out of the second set and mainly via their blocks the guys from Tallinn could steadily widen their lead eventually bringing it home at 25-19 for the provisional 2:0 in sets.
Estonia got off to a flying start in the third set (5:0) and was still up also by the second mandatory stop (16:13). However, things changed suddenly with Romania scoring 4 in a row and finding the right pace to shape up a 25-22 that called for a fourth set.
Somehow shocked by this sudden turnaround, Estonia was no longer able to find their pace in set 4 which was dominated by Romania for another 25-22. Both teams started the tie-break showing great determination and they played point for point; Romania was up 8:7 as teams changed sides of the court but Estonia fought back with strong attacks and a solid defense to claim their first win of the tournament (15-10).
To read more news from this competition click on 2013 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship – European Qualification.
