Estonia – Israel
Estonia looked extremely motivated right from the start of their last game in the competition while Israel was still searching for their first win in the tournament. Estonia performed strong, especially in attack, to move up 8:3 by the first technical time-out while Israel was evidently struggling, looking particularly weak in reception. After a time-out asked by their head coach Jacob Herchko, the Israelis fought their way back to slightly cut the gap by scoring three consecutive points. However, with a good combination of strong attacks and solid blocks, Estonia could continue setting the pace of the game (16:10); after a short drop of their concentration and a break asked by their mentor Urmas Tali, the Estonian guys got back on track, played with great determination and finished the opening set at 25-19.
After a close start, Estonia moved to the front also in set 2 (8:4) anchored by their opposite player and helped by the poor reception displayed by the Israelis widened the gap to 12:5. Though Israel gradually stepped up the quality of their game, Estonia was still up by 5 points at the second technical time-out and eventually brought it home at 25-17 with an ace by Robert Täht.
Estonia started out strong also in set 3 with Renee Teppan scoring four in a row to force the Israeli head coach into an early time-out. Estonia was up 8:4 at the first technical time-out and via some more powerful attacks could open up an impressive margin (16:8) halfway through the set. Showing great motivation and quality the Estonian guys cruised to the final 25-13 whereby they eventually pocketed their ticket to the World Championship.
To read more news from this competition click on 2013 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship – European Qualification.
For all the detailed stats click on Statistics.
