EuroVolley2021 Qualifiers: victory for Slovakia and Romania

On Day 1 of the CEV EuroVolley 2021 Qualifier that is taking place in Nitra, Romania and the hosts of Slovakia started in the competition for a ticket to the Finals collecting 3 points from their respective games.

Romania, with 61% effieciency on the winning spikes, needed only 75 minutes for the win, and didn’t leave any chances to their rivals from Albania.
Aciobanitei was the top scorer of the match with 16 points while Cherbeleata also contributed with 14.
For Albania, Anton Qafarena was the most prolific player with 9 points.

Reactions:
Danut Pascu, Head coach of Romania: “We have been working hard, preparing the match, and this result is very good for us. We start in the tournament well, and I hope we will continue to so in the next matches, too. Today, the whole group played very well, in some situations we did not focus enough, but, in the end, we did it. We all know that next game against Slovakia will be very difficult.”

Codrin Mocanu, Middle blocker of Romania: “We were able to implement our game plan very well. It is a good start of the qualification for us, it gives us hope. Tomorrow, it will be a tough game, Slovakia is the most difficult opponent for us. We will prepare for the match, and we hope that we will do a good job and we will emerge victorious with the 3 points again.”

Ioannis Melka, Head coach of Albania: “It was a difficult match for us. Many of our players suffer from injuries. We played against very good team, Romania participated in last EuroVolley. Tomorrow, it will be another important match for us, and we will try to do our best.”

Anton Qafarena, captain of Albania: “It was not our best game, we didn’t have that much time to practice together in the starting six and, unfortunately, we miss some important players. Today, it was very difficult, but we will try to do the best in the next games.”

In the other match of the Pool Slovakia, better on attack (49 winning spikes) and with 8 winning blocks, also started with a straight sets victory vs Switzerland.
Peter Michalovic was the top scorer of the match, with 16 points, while Jovan Djokic and Luca Ulrich from Switzerland, followed him the top scorers chart with 15 and 14 points respectively.

On Friday, Slovakia will face Romania at 17.00 local time, while Switrzerland will play against Albania at 20.00 local time.

_____________

| CEV EUROVOLLEY 2021 – QUALIFIERS RESULTS & PROGRAM

| May 6, 2021 – POOL E (Nitra – SVK)

Slovakia – Switzerland 3-0 (25:22, 25:21: 25,23)

_____________

Romania – Albania 3-0 (25:15, 25:19, 25:18)

Standings:
Romania 3
Slovakia 3
Switzerland 0
Albania 0

_____________

| May 7, 2021

| POOL A (Zadar – CRO)
Croatia – The Netherlands 1-3 (30:32, 25:19, 23:25, 18:25)

| POOL E (Nitra – SVK)
Slovakia – Romania 3-1 (25:21, 25:21, 14:25, 25:22)
Switzerland – Albania 3-0 (25:18, 25:21, 26:24)

| POOL F (Tblisi – GEO)
Azerbaijan – Montenegro 1-3 (23:25, 21:25, 25:21, 15:25)
Georgia – Greece 0-3 (12:25, 14:25, 12:25)

| POOL G (Budapest – HUN)
Belarus – Portugal 2-3 (25:21, 23:25, 25:23, 23:25, 10:15)
Hungary – Norway 3-1 (23:25, 25:22, 25:23, 25:21)
_____________

| May 8, 2021

| POOL A (Zadar – CRO)
The Netherlands – Sweden 3-0 (25:17, 25:17, 25:15)

| POOL E (Nitra – SVK)
Switzerland – Romania 3-1 (21:25, 25:18, 25:19, 25:20)
Albania – Slovakia 1-3 (20:25, 13:25, 25:21, 19:25)

| POOL F (Tblisi – GEO)
Montenegro – Greece 2-3 (25:17, 20:25, 19:25, 25:23, 14:16)
Azerbaijan – Georgia 3-0 (25:20, 25:22, 25:15)

| POOL G (Budapest – HUN)
Portugal – Norway 3-0 (25:18, 25:21, 25:19)
Belarus – Hungary 3-0 (25:21, 25:15, 25:12)

_____________

| May 9, 2021

| POOL A (Zadar – CRO)
Sweden – Croatia 1-3 (18:25, 20:25, 25:22, 19:25)

| POOL F (Tblisi – GEO)
Greece – Azerbaijan 3-0 (25:21, 25:29, 25:18)
Montenegro – Georgia 3-0 (25:8, 25:12, 25:11)

| POOL G (Budapest – HUN)
Norway – Belarus 0-3 (21:25, 14:25, 22:25)
Portugal – Hungary 3-0 (25:21, 25:16, 25:21)

_____________

Formula: the first of the 7 Pools and the best 5 runners-up qualifies at the Main Event.
Already qualified as organizers: Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia and Finland.
Already qualified from Eurovolley 2019: Serbia, Slovenia, France, Russia, Italy, Ukraine, Germany, Belgium.
Already qualified as winners of pool B, C, D: Bulgaria, Turkey, Latvia
Standings best seconds of the groups ended: North Macedonia 9, Spain 9, Austria 4

_____________

Source and Photos: CEV