Russia captures top slot in Pool C – 2012 CEV Women’s Junior Volleyball Championship
Russia had a tough time to deal with host Romania in the fifth and final match of 2nd round at the 2012 CEV Women’s Junior Volleyball Championship on Sunday.
The home squad, equipped with stupendous support of rowdy fans, used every trick to overcome Russia. Nonetheless, the powerhouse Russian team played in its usual style and successfully managed to grab victory against Romania. The set scores of the match
were 3-1 (25-16, 25-23, 23-25, 25-17).
Russia kept its legacy in the last match of round-2 and finished the act without any loss. On the whole, the Russians did not lose but one set in series of five matches. The flawless 5-0 record enabled the team to get hold of the top position in Pool C.
Furthermore, Russia emerged as the Final Round Qualifier from Pool C. The team will now return to action in the final round, which is set to take place in mid August and Ankara, Turkey will host the crucial final phase.
In the first set of the match, Russia paced things with nice delivery of serves and aces. The Romanian opponents offered strong resistance to visitors but could not achieve the desired results. Russia jumped to an early lead of 8-4 at the first mandatory
stop. The better position of Russia was mainly credited to setter Elena and Anna Luneva, who developed a great chemistry between them and devastated Romanian defence.
Russian spikes and powerful hits did not stop and further stretched out the gap of points, while Romania suffered 6-point deficit at the second technical timeout. The first set inched its way to the end but Romania failed to come out of the blues. Eventually,
Russians secured opening set with 9 points, 25-16.
Romania’s hostile response was quite expected in the following set but Russia came up with appropriate defence strategy. The home duo of Cazacu and Dora Carbuneanu put up a combined effort and tried to break through the Russian defence line. They successfully
landed some nice shots on Russian side and put Romania on lead at 8-4.
Nonetheless, the Romanians could not carry the momentum and soon caught up in a flurry of errors. Meanwhile, Russia returned in the game and traded lead with Romania. The visiting team used two-point lead at second technical timeout and cruised past to 25-23
victory in second set.
Third set featured a balanced action, where both teams remained at close distance but Russia enjoyed lead at first technical timeout (8-7). The point-to-point battle continued and Romania attained better position at the next technical stop (16-14). Cazacu
regularly found a way through the Russian defence and led the team to first set-win in the match (25-23).
However, that was the first and only set that Romania claimed. Russia came out firing in fourth set and posted 25-17 on board, which tagged Russia as winner of the match.
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