Austrian boys outplay Puerto Rico Giants in Euro Volleyball Challenge 2010
The exciting sport of volleyball always seems to be on a run. Be it Asia, Africa, Europe or any other place, volleyball keeps the players busy to receive audience’s applause. Currently, a men’s event of Euro Volleyball Challenge 2010 is underway at Innsbruck
in Austria.
The Innsbruck’s USI Sports Hall greeted teams from Austria and Puerto Rico on Sunday. The Austrian Men’s National Team played their second match against World No. 17, Puerto Rico, eventually managing to snatch victory. They settled for a 3-1 (23-25, 35-33,
25-19, and 35-33) win in the end. Austrian Team Captain, Daniel Gavan, led his players exceptionally and brought honor for the country.
It was Puerto Rico, who had better reputation as compared to Austria. Puerto Rico had series of accomplishments associated with them that were obviously a great source of power for them. But somehow, the host team outshined them by displaying great character
in the game.
Puerto Rica opened the first set demonstrating their serve skills while Austria had a hard time to tackle opponents’ strikes but they stood on solid ground and didn’t take pressure. Puerto Rico added more variety to their hitting and smashed the ball at
different lengths. The idea worked and extended their score. Austrian team chased the score but Puerto Rico rapidly hit the finish- line at 25-23.
The first set loss certainly infuriated the hosts. On the other hand, the joy of victory could be seen on Puerto Rican faces. The local crowd pushed the home team to take revenge. The second set was a real scrimmage; Fred Laure, the Austrian libero helped
the team score while Soto and Viera of Puerto Rico defended the score. Austrian spikers tried the back-row attack and attained leading role. The second set covered its length and Austria emerged successful. They pushed Puerto Rico behind with a score of 35-33.
Now, the game score was leveled at 1-1. Puerto Rico came up with a different approach and produced serves that wouldn’t spin but move in erratic direction. Austrian players couldn’t understand the idea at first but slowly grasped Puerto Rico’s scheme. They
handled the tricky serves and in the end saved points. Austria hit back and surprised Puerto Rico by creating lead in the third set. The excellent fore-arm passes confirmed their victory in third set also by 25-19.
Both teams entered the fourth-set under huge pressure. Puerto Rico tried to capture this set in order to level the score while Austria wanted to finish with victory. The somewhat weak Austrian side turned out to be the strong one in the end as they showed
superb blocking and diving. Austrians were simply thrilled with the sense of triumph. Nonetheless, it wasn’t an easy task to dismiss Puerto Rico, who had experienced players in the team. The score crossed the limit of 30 but situation still remained undecided.
Finally, Austria got a kill and put an end to the tiring set. They claimed the match victory by winning fourth set (35-33).
Later, the winning coach, Michael Warm said, “After such a game, I have to be happy. My team played with a lot of discipline and with a big heart. This was great performance. Today we can be very happy but we must not forget to come back to reality.”
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