Belarus – team
Belarus set the pace of the game in the first set of their clash with Team GB (8:6, 11:8, 14:8) and two consecutive blocks by Siarhei Antanovich stretched the lead (19:13) paving the way for a speedy 25-15.
Belarus was in full control also in set 2 (8:7, 14:11) as GB could score almost only via Nathan French before they found their best play to flip the charts around (18:15, 20:16) and even though Belarus leveled at 22, Great Britain could go for the 1:1.
Belarus started out quite strong in set 3 (7:2, 13:7) and even though GB responded with Bakare and Pipes aced for the provisional 19:18 in favor of his side, this time Belarus could finalize their quest at 25-23.
GB went up 8:5 in set 4 but Belarus responded promptly (14:12) and could maintain their lead up to the end (25-19). Dami Bakare top scored for Team GB with 21 points while Siarhei Busel paced Belarus with 16.
“I am evidently happy with our three wins and nine points. As we came here our goal was to win one or two matches, and never thought we could score three wins. We have to go to Turkey now and try to do the same there” said Belarus coach Viktor Sidelnikov.
“I am very happy with the performance of my team here; we played three great teams and were able to do so at their level, something that was just unthinkable some years ago. Today we were a little exhausted but I am still happy with our performance” stressed GB coach Joel Banks.
