Belarus – team
Belarus advanced to the third round of the World Champs qualification by easily edging Israel thereby confirming the excellent impression left these past days as the local favorites had downed Finland and Denmark in straight sets too. Belarus also wanted to take their revenge after back in 2010 they had lost to Israel in the third and last round of the European Championship. It was one of the best matches for Belarus lately while Israel could not display the necessary quality especially in defense. The home side exploited its physical skills to impose their rule at the net anchored by team captain Marina Tumas. On the other side Elvira Kolnogorov and Anna Velikiy had real problems in reception and as a result Belarus could quickly cruise to a well-deserved 3:0 win.
The match starring Belarus and Israel was preceded by Finland and Denmark crossing their ways though they were already out of contention for first or second place in the group. The Finns around Norwegian head coach Tore Aleksandersen started out strong dominating the scene in set 1 and 2 (25-13 and 25-15) but then relaxed too early in set 3 so that their errors helped Denmark call for a fourth set (23-25). The Finns got back some more composure in the fourth set but had to fight hard to bring it home at 25-20 for the final 3:1 to settle for third place in the Pool.
To read more news from this competition click on World Championship – European Qualification W.
