Estonia loses to Bulgaria in EuroVolley 2011 Playoffs – Volleyball News
Despite taking almost every set down to the wire, the Estonian Men’s National Volleyball Team failed to win against Bulgaria in the EuroVolley 2011 playoffs. The match was held at KV Arena in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic on Wednesday, September 14 as Bulgaria
staged a prolific show of volleyball and breezed past Estonia in straight sets of 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, and 25-22). The bronze medallist team of the 2009 European Championship Bulgaria successfully qualified for the next stage of the tournament. They will now
meet Russia in the quarter-final match.
Bulgaria picked up a comfortable lead of 3 points at the first technical timeout in the opening set. Matey Kaziyski served with firm hands and supplied plenty of power to the ball. Estonian opposite had a difficult time in tackling the powerful shots. However,
Keith Rupart of Estonia responded Bulgarian spikes and re-bounded the ball in their half. He managed to shorten the gap of points to 12-13 before Todor Aleksiev of Bulgaria added six consecutive points. Estonia could not cut the defecit afterwards and ended
up in a flurry of mistakes, which finally led them to the loss of the first set with five points, 20-25.
Host Bulgaria kept the game well under control in the following set and dictated the tempo. Kaziyski gave out superb performance and helped Bulgaria lead the scores. Oliver Venno of Estonia tried to resist but couldn’t bring any major change in the set.
Bulgaria rallied past from 8-6 to 16-11. The gap of increased and Estonia face more difficulty along the way. Home team, equipped with great support of local fans, continued with same spirit and extended its lead to 2-0 by winning second set 25-23.
Estonia’s chances were slim but Oliver Venno once again got to the front in the third set. He created enough trouble for the opposite side but Bulgaria was able to score. They were ahead of Estonia with the gap of one-point at the first break and stretched
the gap to two points at next technical break. There were actually some moments when Estonia was able to break the gap but Bulgaria stayed cool and finished the job with lead of the three points 25-22. Bulgarian enjoyed the win over Estonia and created a perfect
opportunity of celebration for home supporters.
The captain of Estonia, Kert Toobal, expressed his mixed feelings while speaking at the post-match official press conference. He stated: “The strongest team qualified for the next round. We hope we were able to shake the Bulgarians and surprise them a bit.
Kaziyski served well and we were not able to control his hits in defence. I am not disappointed. It was already a good result for us to be in the Playoffs, but I am sad we could not win any set this afternoon”.
The mentor of the Estonian team, Arvo Keel, also praised the good effort of Bulgarian team. He said Bulgarian players were equipped with individual skills and that’s how they took away the game from Estonia. Meanwhile, the captain of successful squad, Vladimir
Nikolov, added “We are happy we managed to achieve a clear 3:0 victory. Our opponents were quite good, better than someone might have expected”.
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