Eurovolley Pool C: victory for Finland and Slovenia

After yesterday’s defeat against Slovenia, Finland were determined to please their numerous supporters in Stožice Arena with a victory. They do it in five sets against Belarus, securing their first victory in Pool C. Belarus’ Artur Udrys was the top scorer of the match with 21 points while Urpo Sivula scored 20 on the winning side.

Andrei Radziuk, outside-spiker (BLR)
“It was an amazing game and were the heroes. The third set gave us chance to come back and we took it. It’s really amazing because in first two sets the Finnish team was awesome and also their fans were very loud and amazing. After third set we saw Finish team is really tired and we took the chance.”

Viktar Beksha, head coach (BLR)
“Our start of the match was awful. Finland served well and we made too many mistakes on the serve. We did not use our middle-blockers in the attack. In the second set Finland did not play well in defence, we were fighting, improved our performance, and still we lost. Then we made a good substitution with Udrys instead of Miskevich. He scored many important points. The third set was crucial, since we bounced back after a defeat. We are happy to still have chances to fight for the next round.”

Elviss Krastins, outside-spiker (FIN)
“After second set we lost energy and got some bad luck. Some balls we should have handled better and this had effect on our mentality. It was a tough game and Belarus team played an amazing match. They put very good preasure on us.”

Joel Banks, head coach (FIN)
“That is not bitter, this is sports. And sports is physical but is also mental. And we were very, very good in the first two sets, in set 3 a little bit sloppy from time to time, but the level was still quite high. In set 4 we played against a different team. The team suddenly has a boost of confidence and they played differently. For us the game plan was good throughout. We did not have the serve pressure in the end and we could not convert some of the chances.”

Turkey started the second match of the Pool with great determination to upset the home crowd claiming a 5-point lead. However, Slovenia improved their performance, closed the gap and emerged victorious with a victory in straight sets. Tine Urnaut was the top scorer with 16 points.

Adis Lagumdzija, opposite (TUR)
“We played really good in the first set, made only a couple of mistakes that we should kill. If we did those, we would have won the first set. In the second set we have had a little breakdown but we came back in the third so that was good. We have to mentally come back now and prepare for the next matches.”

Tine Urnaut, outside-spiker and team captain (SLO)
“Turkish team is very strong, we knew that. We had been tired at the beggining of the game. Then we came back and played with consistence. We had some problems with servis so we had to be stronger in side-out. Through all the game we belived in our victory. Every game we have to adapt to the style of the game that is necessary for the day. Even if our game wasn’t phenomenal, we won.”