Romania volleyball federation
Despite the way the first set was lost, Cyprus continued to challenge Romania in the second set and gained a quick 20:15 lead. When Romania closed in at 21:20 it seemed like a repeat of the opening set, but Cyprus held on to win the two decisive points at 24:24 with an attack by Gavrilis Georgiou and an ace by captain Nikos Kolas to tie the overall score at 1-1.
Romania came away with an easy third set, before the home team pulled together to come back from 15:18 in the fourth and go on to score four straight points at 20:21 to come ahead 24:21 and force the game into a tie-break.
The fifth set, however, was a walkover for Romania, who shot off to a 1:11 lead and never looked back.
Romania scored off 16 block points (to Cyprus’ 15) and 8 aces (to 5) and rounded off the victory with 50/122 kills (41%) to Cyprus’ 46/118 (39%). Romania’s opposite Ciprian Matei was top scorer of the match with 27 points, followed by Cyprus’ Georgiou with 22.
