Belarus-Slovakia
Anastasiya Harelik was responsible for 16 of Belarus’s points to become the best scorer of the match, while Solange Paula Pereira Soares and Jaroslava Pencova tallied 8 points each for Slovakia.
The game was spectacular as each team did its best to win the match. It began successfully for Belarus – 4-0, and Slovakia took its first time-out. Due to the serves of Soares the visitors were able to climb back from 1-7 to 4-7.
Hanna Kalinbouskaya and Marina Tumas spiked successfully to shape up a score of 16-12 at the second technical time-out. Good serving by Simona Kosova helped Slovakia not fall further behind, but in the end two points in a row for Belarus finished the set at 25-19.
The second set also saw a great start for Belarus – 8-2 with aces by Anastasiya Harelik and Anzhelika Barisevich. After that the same players were brilliant in blocking to help extend the gap even further – 16-7, 21-8 and 25-10.
In the third set Soares came back on the court and together with Yaroslava Pencova and substitute Tatiana Crkonova showed some effective performance. At the first technical time-out, Belarus had only one point of advantage over Slovakia. Soon after, the visiting team even managed to take the lead at 9-8. Over the following several rallies, the match was intense as Belarus turned things back around and went up 18-16. After 19-17 the home team scored 6 points in a row to close the set at 25-17 and celebrate the victory in straight sets.
The second leg will take place in Slovakia on June 6 and in France and the Czech Republic on June 8 with the three overall winners making their way to the continental championship in Germany and Switzerland.
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