Romania takes revenge from Slovakia in second match – 2011 CEV European League
Romania edged out arch rival Slovakia by posting 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-17, and 25-18) victory on Sunday, June 26. It was their second meeting in the third week and overall their fourth match of the 2011 CEV European League prelims. Romania team clinched
success and firmly occupied the top slot in the ranking, while Slovakia is now on number 2 in Pool C.
Romania played under double pressure. In the first place, they were playing away from home and secondly Slovakia already had won the previous match. Romania squad opened the game on a good note and put away early points on the scoreboard. Adrian Gontariu
did great offensively and defensively. He pushed the ball so hard that it moved through the legs and shoulders of Slovakian players. As a result Romania picked up lead and added more points to stretch the gap of points. Tomas Kmet of Slovakia offered some
solid blocking but Romanian side didn’t stop. They maintained the same high energy and closed off first set with the final score of 25-23.
Slovakia hit back angrily in second set and tried to cover the deficit in second set. On the other hand, success in opening set laid strong bases for Romania to put pressure on opponents. After a couple of cross court shots, Romania went up with a margin
of two points (6-4). This added more fuel to the injury for Slovakia. They threw everything in attack and stormed Romanian half with lot of attacking shots. The hosts sparked on the scene and surpassed Romania at the second technical timeout. As Slovakia went
up, the raged-up Slovakian hitters added quick points and hit the equalizer at 25-22. The score tied at 1-1, while the game entered third set.
Third set was again dominated by Romanian side. They followed a smart approach and broke the tempo of rivals. Strong serving and swift spikes worked magic for them and they pushed Slovakia behind the attack line. Home team used the back row attack but it
didn’t bring out desired results. Romania brought out good results and won third set.
The high moral of Romanian players couldn’t easily be spotted by the look of their faces in fourth set. They tightened the screws of opponents with deadly aces and bump-passes. Slovakia couldn’t beat the better strategy of Romania and dropped the match.
The mentor of Romanian team, Stelian Moculescu was happy about the quick come-back of his team. He appreciated the great effort put by his side and congratulated his team for victory. Speaking of the match, he described that it was somewhat similar match
like yesterday’s but attitude of players had phenomenal change. Slovakian team made frequent mistakes, which helped Romania to take control of the operations. He credited his players for good serving and solid defence. Romania shares strong rivalry with Slovakia
in Pool C. Moculescu further added, “I am glad that we took one victory in Slovakia and now we have a chance to win this pool. We made a big step forward, but we need two victories against Belarus to qualify for the final four and it will not be easy.”
Slovakia coach, Emanuele Zanini agreed with his counterpart that today’s match was identical with the previous one. Nonetheless, he praised the excellent work of Romanian side. In his view, the change in starting line-up created trouble for his team. He
said he wanted to experiment with youngsters but they need to get more experience, in order to outdo opponents.
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