Eurovolley Pool C: another victory for Russia, Slovenia ok.

The reigning champions Russia have scored their third victory at the EuroVolley! In the first two sets, they were much more dominant but in the third set North Macedonia played at the highest possible level to give a huge resistance: they forced an extended set and were close to take it, but Russia’s experience managed to down the rival 30-28. Dmitri Volkov with 15 points and Artem Volvich with 13 points were the top scorers in Russia, while Nikola Gjorgiev and Filip Madjunkov had 12 points each on the other side.

Reactions:
Ivan Andonov – middle-blocker (MKD)
“In the first two sets we didn’t play as we can but then in the last set we’ve had our chances, we were really close and could have won but at the end the bigger and more experienced team took the win.”

Nikola Matijasevic – head coach (MKD)
“I think the main reason for our defeat was our lack of experience. We had the opportunity to win the third set. Overall the third set was good, we played better than yesterday and I think this will bring us the confidence to play with Slovenia. I don’t want to create any preassure but with good atmosphere and our supporters we can expect a good match.”

Dmitrii Volkov – outside-spiker (RUS)
“We are happy with today’s outcome. The most important ting for us was to claim another three points. We will go match by match, there are still some important games ahead and we need to improve some elements by then, since we will face some strong opponents. We are already looking forward to that.”

Egor Kliuka – outside-spiker (RUS)
“We claimed another three points, although we lost our concentration for a bit in the third set, which is why Macedonians closed the gap. What is more, they improved their performance a lot in the last part of the match, which caused us quite some trouble, but we believed in our win through the whole match.”

Second victory also for the hosts of Slovenia. Numerous home fans and a group of supporters from Finland created an amazing atmosphere for the clash between their national teams. Slovenia delivered a solid blocking performance, while team captain Tine Urnaut was very efficient in the attack (23 points for him).

Reactions:
Joel Banks – coach (FIN)
“Every player in our squad has a role to play. We do not have a star player as such, so we need the contribution of everybody. When some guys are struggling, trying to find a different solution it is good to be able to change and the guys that come in they get something different. That was the case in the game with North Macedonia and I think that was the case today. We struggled and suffered a bit in set 4, but in the other three sets I think we played very well.”

Henrik Porkka – libero (FIN)
“We played prety well, we had a chance to take a win but we didn’t take it. Atmosphere was amazing, it gave us a lot of energy. It’s always great to play in a full hall. Our fans fallow us all over the world. This support is great for us, we get a lot of energy from them.”

2019 CEV European Volleyball Championship, pool stage – Day 3:

POOL A (Montpellier, France)
Greece – France 0-3 (14:25, 18:25, 24:26)
Bulgaria – Portugal 3-1 (25:23, 28:30, 25:23, 25:22)

POOL B (Brussels & Antwerp, Belgium)
Germany – Belgium 2-3 (23:25, 17:25, 25:22, 25:15, 13:15)
Slovakia – Austria 3-1 (19:25, 25:20, 25:21, 25:15)

POOL C (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
North Macedonia – Russia 0-3 (15:25, 16:25, 28:30)
Slovenia – Finland 3-1 (25:18, 26:24, 24:26, 25:15)

POOL D (Rotterdam & Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
Ukraine – Netherlands 0-3 (26:28, 27:29, 21:25)
Estonia – Montenegro 0-3 (23:25, 28:30, 23:25)

Source and photos: CEV