Golden European League: Ukraine and Turkey to Final Four, victory for Belgium, Estonia and Czech Republic
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The end of the Pool Stage of the Golden European League is getting closer.
On Friday, the defending champions from Turkey booked their ticket for the Final Four of the competition after claiming another 3-0 victory, this time against Belarus in a re-match of the 2019 Final.
In Pool B, Ukraine defeat Romania in four sets, and also secured a spot at the final four that will take place on June 19-20 in Kortrijk (BEL).
Turkey and Ukraine join hosts Belgium, and thus there is only one ticket left, that will be decided in the last matches that will take place in this weekend.
In details, Estonia defeat again Spain at the start of the second tournament in Pool A.
Today, the team coached by Cedric Enard came back after losing the first set, and with 11 aces a better performance in attack, claimed a 3-1 victory. This is 4th consecutive victory for the Estonian players, who, with 11 points, top the charts in the current standing in the group.
The experienced Oliver Venno was once again the best for the winners with 26 points.
Cedric Enard, Head coach of Estonia: “In the beginning, I was little bit worried, because we started bad; we were struggling in reception. However, we found back our rhythm in the end of the first set. The guys showed a better performance in all the elements in the next sets.”
Ricardo Maldonado, Head coach of Spain: “Congratulations to Estonia. We did not play good, we had many problems in reception and in organising the attack. We have to forget this match very quickly.”
On the same Pool, the hosts of the Final Four Belgium have also take a victory, 3-1 against Latvia.
With 10 points, they fight vs. Estonia in the battle for the first place. They will face tomorrow, June 5.
In this match, nothing to do for Latvia despite a great performance in blocking (15 compared to 8 by the rivals). Tomas Rousseaux from the winner’s team finished as top scorer with 23 points, while Kristaps Smits was the best on the other side of the net with 18 points.
Fernando MuƱoz Benitez, Head coach of Belgium: “We knew that team Latvia can serve well . So we prepared the game from this perspective and trying to keep a good level on our side of the net. Of course, there were moments when we struggled. We should improve on block-defence, but in any case, this game was a good one for our young players.”
Ukraine also continue on the right path in Pool B as today they secured another 3 points after beating Romania in four sets. They lost the first set but then came back to claim the win and secure the first place in the Pool after three matches played, having collected 9 points so far.
It was the slightly better performance on attack and the 11 blocks that helped Ukraine to win the match. Oleh Plotnytskyi and Dmytro Viietsky were the top scorers of the match both with 16 points.
The defending champions of Turkey extended their winning streak to 4 victories out of 4 matches, and unbeaten, top the charts in the current standings in Pool C with 12 points.
In a re-match of the 2019 final against Belarus, the players around Nedim Ćzbey claimed a straight-sets victory. In the first match of the day in Desportivo Municipal de Santo Tirso, Portugal, they needed 84 minutes to claim the win, also thanks to 11 aces and 7 winning blocks.
Adis Lagumdzija was the top scorer with 19 points including 4 aces, while Bedirhan BĆ¼lbĆ¼l made 4 blocks.
On the same Pool, Czech Republic took a revenge on Portugal for the 2-3 loss at the beginning of the competition as they seized a straight-sets victory over the team coached by Hugo Silva.
Jiri Novak’s players claimed the win in just 74 minutes, outclassing the opponents in all the components.
Lukas Vasina and Michal Finger from the Czech Republic finished the match with 16 points each while, for Portugal, Alexandre Ferreira and Marco Ferreira made 7 each.
After this victory, the winners are third placed in the current standings, with 4 points, while Portugal are last with 3.
| CEV Golden European League 2021′ – Results & Program
MAY 28, 2021 –
— POOL A – Tartu (EST)
ā¢ Estonia – Spain 3-0 (25:23, 25:16, 25:18)
ā¢ Latvia – Belgium 1-3 (25:19, 16:25, 14:25, 21:25)
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— POOL C – Minsk (BLR)
ā¢ Czech Republic – Turkey 1-3 (19:25, 25:22, 21:25, 21:25)
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MAY 29, 2021 –
— POOL A – Tartu (EST)
ā¢ Spain – Belgium 1-3 (23:25, 25:21, 22:25, 33:35)
ā¢ Estonia – Latvia 3-0 (25:23, 25:13, 25:11)
— POOL C – Minsk (BLR)
ā¢ Portugal – Turkey 0-3 (19:25, 24:26, 17:25)
ā¢ Belarus – Czech Republic 3-1 (25:21, 18:25, 25:17, 25:23)
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MAY 30, 2021 –
— POOL A – Tartu (EST)
ā¢ Spain – Latvia 3-1 (26:24, 25:23, 19:25, 26:25)
ā¢ Belgium – Estonia 2-3 (25:20, 25:20, 19:25, 21:25, 16:18)
— POOL C – Minsk (BLR)
ā¢ Czech Republic – Portugal 2-3 (25:20, 25:27, 37:39, 25:22, 12:15)
ā¢ Turkey – Belarus 3-0 (25:21, 25:20, 25:16)
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MAY 31, 2021 –
— POOL C – Minsk (BLR)
ā¢ Belarus – Portugal 3-2 (25:22, 25:20, 23:25, 16:25, 15:10)
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JUNE 1, 2021 –
— POOL B – Zaporizhzhia (UKR)
ā¢ Ukraine – Romania 3-1 (22:25, 34:32, 25:23, 25:19)
ā¢ Slovakia – The Netherlands 3-0 (FORFEIT FOR VNL)
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JUNE 2, 2021 –
— POOL B – Zaporizhzhia (UKR)
ā¢ Romania – Slovakia 2-3 (29:27, 21:25, 25:22, 24:26, 12:15)
ā¢ The Netherlands – Ukraine 0-3 (FORFEIT FOR VNL)
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JUNE 3, 2021 –
— POOL B – Zaporizhzhia (UKR)
ā¢ Slovakia – Ukraine 0-3 (21:25, 8:25, 21:25)
ā¢ The Netherlands – Romania 0-3 (FORFEIT FOR VNL)
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JUNE 4, 2021 –
— POOL A – Liepaja (LAT)
ā¢ Estonia – Spain 3-1 (22:25, 25:13, 25:18, 25:16)
ā¢ Latvia – Belgium 1-3 (28:30, 23:25, 25:19, 16:25)
Standings: Estonia 11, Belgium 10, Spain 3, Latvia 0.
— POOL B – Zaporizhzhia (UKR)
ā¢ Romania – Ukraine 1-3 (25:15, 20:25, 18:25, 27:29)
ā¢ Slovakia – The Netherlands 3-0 (FORFEIT FOR VNL)
Standings: Ukraine 9, Slovakia 2, Romania 1.
— POOL C – Santo Tirso (POR)
ā¢ Turkey – Belarus 3-0 (25:20, 25:23, 25:19)
ā¢ Czech Republic – Portugal 3-0 (25:20, 25:20, 25:18)
Standings: Turkey 12, Belarus 5, Czech Republic 4, Portugal 3.
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JUNE 5, 2021 –
— POOL A – Liepaja (LAT)
ā¢ Spain – Latvia 3-0 (25:21, 25:23, 25:19)
ā¢ Belgium – Estonia 1-3 (25:20, 26:28, 30:32, 26:28)
— POOL B – Zaporizhzhia (UKR)
ā¢ Slovakia – Romania 1-3 (25:21, 20:25, 22:25, 19:25)
ā¢ The Netherlands – Ukraine 0-3 (FORFEIT FOR VNL)
— POOL C – Santo Tirso (POR)
ā¢ Belarus – Czech Republic 1-3 (20:25, 22:25, 25:23, 17:25)
ā¢ Portugal – Turkey 0-3 (28:30, 16:25, 16:25)
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JUNE 6, 2021 –
— POOL A – Liepaja (LAT)
ā¢ Spain – Belgium 0-3 (23:25, 17:25, 29:31)
ā¢ Estonia – Latvia 3-0 (25:20, 25:17, 25:16)
— POOL B – Zaporizhzhia (UKR)
ā¢ Ukraine – Slovakia 3-1 (23:25, 25:23, 25:21, 26:24)
ā¢ The Netherlands – Romania 0-3 (FORFEIT FOR VNL)
— POOL C – Santo Tirso (POR)
ā¢ Czech Republic – Turkey 1-3 (18:25, 14:25, 25:19, 20:25)
ā¢ Belarus – Portugal 3-2 (17:25, 22:25, 25:20, 25:20, 20:18)
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Source and Photos: CEV
