Germany – Romania
Germany claimed their second consecutive win in the tournament edging Romania in four sets. Germany started out strong (8:4) and slowly but surely widened the gap (16:7) with this margin of nine points being kept until the very end of the opening set (25-16).
The guys mentored by head coach Adrian Pfleghar quickly imposed their pace also in the early stages of the second set (4:0, 8:5) and eventually widened their lead up to seven points showing excellent attacks and a solid defense. With Yannick Harms – who on Thursday had served for 15 consecutive times against Israel – Germany cruised to a terrific 25-8 to move up 2:0 in sets.
Romania responded well in set 3 going up 8:7 but Germany quickly found back control of the game claiming a margin of four points which nevertheless was reduced to two by the second technical time-out. Romania showed great determination and composure fighting their way back and claiming the set at 25-22 to re-open the fate of the game.
To follow up on such “resurrection”, Romania started out very aggressively also in set 4 (5:1, 8:1) to vanish the effects of a time-out asked by German head coach Pfleghar. However, after the first technical time-out, Germany got back on track scoring four in a row and a neck-to-neck race did continue until 20 all. There Germany went up by two points and eventually booked their second win in the tournament to re-assert their ambition to qualify for the World Championship. Yannick Harms and Phillip Trenkler top scored for the winning side with 18 points apiece.
To read more news from this competition click on 2013 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship – European Qualification.
