Czech Republic advances to the final showdown of the European League – Volleyball News
City of Karlovy Vary in Czech Republic played host to second semi-final of the 2012 CEV Women’s European Volleyball League on Thursday that featured home heroines and ladies from the Netherlands.
Equipped with stupendous support of local fans, the national women’s volleyball team of Czech Republic demonstrated a stellar feat and held off Dutch counterparts for 3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 25-23 and 25-17) victory. The visiting team fought bravely, but failed
to overcome the hosts. Czech Republic successfully booked a slot in the final match of the tournament after beating Netherlands.
Aneta HAVLICKOVA was instrumental to Czech Republic’s victory in the semi-final match. She displayed incredible action on the net and charted match-high 30 points. She was credited for 26 winning blocks, one ace, and three blocks in the match.
On the other hand, Lonneke SLOETJES struggled to bring Netherlands on top. She contributed team-high 18 points, but it proved to be a failing effort for her as the team dropped the decision.
Home team earned a two-point lead at the first technical timeout in first set and stretched the gap to four points at the second TTO. Netherlands trailed behind and eventually suffered the loss of opening set.
In the second, Dutch side hit back aggressively and picked up an early lead. The good combination of attack and defence allowed the guests to take second set, which levelled the game score at 1-1.
Third set was all about Czech Republic as Dutch ladies failed to take lead for a single time. Local team quickly covered the length of third stanza and moved to 2-1 in the match. Czech Republic repeated the same act in fourth set and dominated all the way
to the end.They won fourth set and settled for match victory.
The mentor of home team Carlo Parisi shared his views after the match. He stated: “It wasn’t an easy match for us; we faced a very strong team, but we were ready for this moment and we were able to enter the court in the right disposition.”
“We had the opportunity to take profit of their mistakes to lead the game, especially in those moments when they got close in the scoreboard. Now we have to think about tomorrow”, commented Parisi, who defined the Final game as “a very difficult match,”
he concluded.
Czech captain, Helena Havelkova seemed totally filled with joy at her team’s success in the semi-final match. However, the Dutch captain Debby Stam-Pilon regretted the loss of an important match. In her opinion, too many unforced errors led Netherlands to
defeat in the match.
The local heroines from Czech Republic will return to action on Friday in the final match of the tournament against Bulgaria.
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