Czech Republic-Slovakia
The Czech Republic started out very strong going up 4:1 and then 8:3 at the first technical time-out. The Czechs were clearly dominant in the first set and with no major problems they managed to wrap it up at 25-9.
In the second set the crowd saw a fairly equalized battle, but after the score was leveled at 20 all the Czech Republic went ahead by two points (23:21) which was enough for a narrow victory by 25-23 and 2:0 overall.
In the third set Slovakia was the better side. They went up 8:4 at the first technical break, and then 12:6 which was the highest margin the Slovaks had in this match. The Czech Republic managed to narrow the gap to just one point of difference at 20:21, but they could not quite overturn the score, as Slovakia preserved a minimum lead to take the third set at 25-23 and cut the distance in half for a 1:2 in sets.
Slovakia continued to play well in the fourth set and they created all sorts of problems to their rivals. However, the Czech Republic was determined not to let this match go the whole five sets and after claiming the lead (16:14) at the second technical break, they pushed hard and reached a comfortable 23-16. In the end, it was a well deserved 25-18 and 3:1 overall for the Czechs.
Petr Juda, head coach of the Czech Republic: “We have a more experienced team and I think that was the key for our victory today”.
Michal Finger, Czechs opposite: “We won the first set fairly easy, in the second we had some problems, but we managed to pull through. Slovakia spiked hard in the third set and we could not defend. Luckily for us, we wrapped it up in four sets otherwise it could have been very difficult to win today”.
Miroslav Palgut, head coach of Slovakia: “I am not satisfied, we were not aggressive today and we allowed our rivals to score many easy points”.
Filip Gavenda, Slovakia’s receiver: “It has been very hard for us in this tournament. We have many ups and downs in our game, and we struggle a lot”.
To read more news from this competition click on 2013 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship – European Qualification.
