Belgium equalises with Great Britain in second match – 2011 CEV European Volleyball Championship
Teams from Great Britain and Belgium met in a league round of 2011 CEV Men’s European Volleyball Championship on Saturday, June 4. GB team launched its power on the Belgian side and made a clean sweep in the first match. However, Belgium came up with a better
approach in the next match on Sunday and recovered from the shock of defeat. They staged an impressive game and scored victory by sending 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-20, and 25-18) onto the board. Belgium was featured as the home team in the local city Merksem and
set the field of play for both matches. The local volleyball fans celebrated the return victory of their home team with enthusiasm.
Post-Match comments
Claudio Gewehr, the head coach of the Belgian team was greatly pleased with the tremendous progress of his squad. He said that his players performed considerably better than the previous match and managed to dismantle the power of the Brits. He further added,
“There is still a lot of work to do but I am happy that we can already testify there is a positive evolution. It was also nice to see that we have players, like Valkiers and Tuerlinckx, who are able to play the drums for us when our efficiency and quality
of play is decreasing”.
His British counter-part, Brokking Arie, also had his say about the match. He described, “We played without opposites today. Bakare was systematically blocked and Sliti could not change the situation. My young team lost confidence and consistency; we also
know that we still have a lot of work for the months to come”.
Point-to-point analysis
It was reported that Claudio Gewehr had a long meeting with his Belgian players after the loss of the opening match. He pointed out various weak areas in the team line-up and urged the players to avoid the same mistakes in the next match. The players followed
the instructions of their mentor and gave an improved performance in the next match.
The match started with classy serves from the GB squad. They had the confidence of one victory in hand and opened the match with commanding shots. They played in their usual style and scored the early points of the game, while Belgium was yet to score. The
game progressed and Nathan French of Belgium set pace for Brits and put them in lead. The hosts trailed behind at the first technical timeout. Belgium strengthened the defencive line and showed remarkable improvement in their blocks. However, Great Britain
remained ahead of the home team and maintained its dominance up until the second technical break.
Despite great efforts, Belgium couldn’t take lead in the game. On the other hand, GB side seemed fully prepared to hit the mark. They kept on moving at the same speed and closed off first set at 25-23.
After dropping the opening set, Belgian side put body, mind and soul together to stop Britians advance in score. Gertjan Claes and Gert van Walle formed a great combination and broke the rhythm of GB spikers. Belgium showed the attacking power and went up
in the score. In the meantime, GB coach called in some back-up players but the strategy did not work out. Belgium continued with success and Kevin Tuerlinckx continued hitting point-scoring shots. The second set graced the home team with success as they scored
25-19.
The hostile reaction of GB players was expected in the third set. Hence, the home players avoided any silly mistakes. Brits came strong in early phase of the set and quickly earned a lead of 8-5. However, Belgians returned the ball in opponents’ half and
chased the score. They not only chased the score but also surpassed Brits and claimed third set with the margin of 5 points.
The fourth set was a close fight. The early phase of the game saw a tie at 7-all. Following the dead-lock of 7-7, Belgium made a stunning move and posted seven consecutive points against Great Britain. It was enough to give a great push to Belgium to make
further progress. They kept on hitting the ball in the right spots and sealed a fourth-set win at 25-18.
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