During the first competition day of the 3rd Round Qualifying Tournament to the 2010 FIVB Men’s World Championship, Spain managed to beat Estonia 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-14), after having faced some troubles in the first set, while Serbia easily outclassed Romania in three straight sets in front of 3200 spectators at the „Jezero“ Hall of Sports in Kragujevac.
The Spanish team successfully started their qualifying session beating Estonia even though they suffered a lot in the first set when they simply couldn’t find the right pace. In the second set things started to look better for Julio Velasco’s team that recovered very well from a shocking start into the match. Estonia managed to come close by the end of the set, but this part of the match was from the start in the hands of the Spaniards. In the third and fourth sets, the Spaniards were unstoppable and they ended this match fairly easily. After 106 minutes, the final result was a 3-1 for the reigning European Champions.
Miguel Angel Falasca, captain of the Spanish team, said: “This is a very tough tournament because it is very important to qualify for the World Championship. Nowadays, good volleyball is being played all over Europe. We started the match very nervously and the Estonian team played very well in the first set. Fortunately, we managed to come back, we started playing better, and from that moment on our rivals had a difficult time in trying to catch us. We are happy for this victory, but this is only the first step. I hope we’ll win tomorrow against Romania and qualify before the last day of the competition”.
Estonian captain Kert Tobal added: “The first set we played really well, and we had pretty good serve, so we made it very difficult to control the reception for the Spanish side. You know, if you serve well everything gets very easy. Unfortunately, after the first set we couldn’t maintain our good performance in serving, the Spanish side started playing better and we simply couldn’t adjust to the new circumstances on the field”.
It was only until the middle of the first set that the Romanian team could keep up with this year’s World League runner-ups in the second match slated for the opening day. In the first two sets, the hosts of Serbia imposed their game and easily finished the job leaving behind the Romanians at 17 and 15 points respectively. The visitors did manage to wake up in the third set and get a 4-point lead (8-4) at the first technical time-out. Serbia slowly picked up the points and by the second technical time-out it was 16-15 for the host team. However, the visiting team dug deep once again and got back to win the third set 25-22. In the fourth set, Serbia was too strong and right from the start the host team clearly showed the intention to wrap things up and end the match. After 76 minutes of play, the final result was 3-1 (25-17, 25-15. 22-25, 25-18) for the hosts.
Serbian captain Nikola Grbic: “We were very focused today, especially in the first two sets and we continued with good performances after the World League Final Six in Belgrade. However, in the third set we were a little bit more relaxed and they punished us right away. We lost 7 points in a row on a float serve of the Romanian setter and this should never happen, but we must work on that. We need time, obviously we are not 100% ready, but this is a very important victory for us and I hope we can repeat it tomorrow”.
Alexandru Bogdan Olteanu, Romanian captain, concluded: “This is a good start of a long journey for us. We are still a young and inexperienced team, and having that in mind this was a good match for us. I hope we improve our game even more and I know we will be better in the future”.
On the second day of the tournament, Romania will face Spain at 18.00h, while Serbia meets Estonia at 20.30h.
The Spanish team successfully started their qualifying session beating Estonia even though they suffered a lot in the first set when they simply couldn’t find the right pace. In the second set things started to look better for Julio Velasco’s team that recovered very well from a shocking start into the match. Estonia managed to come close by the end of the set, but this part of the match was from the start in the hands of the Spaniards. In the third and fourth sets, the Spaniards were unstoppable and they ended this match fairly easily. After 106 minutes, the final result was a 3-1 for the reigning European Champions.
Miguel Angel Falasca, captain of the Spanish team, said: “This is a very tough tournament because it is very important to qualify for the World Championship. Nowadays, good volleyball is being played all over Europe. We started the match very nervously and the Estonian team played very well in the first set. Fortunately, we managed to come back, we started playing better, and from that moment on our rivals had a difficult time in trying to catch us. We are happy for this victory, but this is only the first step. I hope we’ll win tomorrow against Romania and qualify before the last day of the competition”.
Estonian captain Kert Tobal added: “The first set we played really well, and we had pretty good serve, so we made it very difficult to control the reception for the Spanish side. You know, if you serve well everything gets very easy. Unfortunately, after the first set we couldn’t maintain our good performance in serving, the Spanish side started playing better and we simply couldn’t adjust to the new circumstances on the field”.
It was only until the middle of the first set that the Romanian team could keep up with this year’s World League runner-ups in the second match slated for the opening day. In the first two sets, the hosts of Serbia imposed their game and easily finished the job leaving behind the Romanians at 17 and 15 points respectively. The visitors did manage to wake up in the third set and get a 4-point lead (8-4) at the first technical time-out. Serbia slowly picked up the points and by the second technical time-out it was 16-15 for the host team. However, the visiting team dug deep once again and got back to win the third set 25-22. In the fourth set, Serbia was too strong and right from the start the host team clearly showed the intention to wrap things up and end the match. After 76 minutes of play, the final result was 3-1 (25-17, 25-15. 22-25, 25-18) for the hosts.
Serbian captain Nikola Grbic: “We were very focused today, especially in the first two sets and we continued with good performances after the World League Final Six in Belgrade. However, in the third set we were a little bit more relaxed and they punished us right away. We lost 7 points in a row on a float serve of the Romanian setter and this should never happen, but we must work on that. We need time, obviously we are not 100% ready, but this is a very important victory for us and I hope we can repeat it tomorrow”.
Alexandru Bogdan Olteanu, Romanian captain, concluded: “This is a good start of a long journey for us. We are still a young and inexperienced team, and having that in mind this was a good match for us. I hope we improve our game even more and I know we will be better in the future”.
On the second day of the tournament, Romania will face Spain at 18.00h, while Serbia meets Estonia at 20.30h.
