Germany – team
Germany proved too strong for Poland to claim the fifth rank at 2012 CEV Junior Volleyball European Championship – Women. The team of head coach Han Abbing overpowered the promising Polish talents 3:1 (25-23, 25-18, 17-25, 25-23) in today’s classification clash at Kislali Hall in Ankara. German outside hitter and best spiker awarded Lisa Izquierdo and Polish middle-blocker Agnieszka Kakolewska topped the scorers with 16 points.
Germany made an impressive start into the match, but fell back in the second part of the first set (14-16). Some rallies later, the set balanced on a knife’s edge, before Germany pulled through (25-23). Even though Poland dominated the major part of set No. 2, five (!) consecutive block points turned the tables in Germany’s favor, giving them a hard-earned 2:0 set lead. Compared to the previous set, Poland took command at the net, booking seven block winners in total, whilst Germany had zero. As a consequence, the team of head coach Andrzej Pec won the third set quite easily 25-17. It seemed as with the win of the third set the young Polish players gather momentum, whilst the German side started to struggle. Poland led 8-0 (!) and 16-10 at the technical breaks, but couldn’t conclude. Germany bounced back heroically to take over control during “money time”. Captain Magdalena Gryka sealed the match with a well-timed ace to offer her teammates the merited fifth rank at 2012 CEV Junior Volleyball European Championship – Women.
German head coach Han Abbing: “Mentally, my players were ready today, congratulations. The team can be proud of its-self. We won five out of seven matches here in Ankara. My players showed their potential for a bright future.”
Polish head coach Andrzej Pec: “I don’t know what to say. We won the third set and we were eight points ahead in the fourth set; but we suddenly stopped playing. We started the tournament quite well and dominated the first three games. Even more, we could have won the match against Russia. Anyway, we lost against Germany, again, and finally took the sixth place. It is ok.”
