Russia joins the final four of 2012 CEV European Olympic Qualifiers – Volleyball news
Russia and Netherlands met in the last match of Pool II of 2012 CEV European Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament on Friday.
Dutch team failed to put up with hard hitting of Russia and received 1-3 (25-23, 11-25, 16-25, 14-25) defeat. Russia pulled off success against Netherlands and qualified for the semi-finals. Baskent sports hall in Ankara, Turkey provided the backdrop for
the crucial match.
Russian stars Ekaterina Gamova and Liubov Shashkova received huge applause on account of their wonderful performance. They proved their endeavours and led Russia to a splendid win. Gamova added 18 points, while Shashkova registered 17 points. On the other
hand, Dutch captain Manon Flier emerged as the most prolific player in her team with 13 points on her tally.
The opening set of the match portrayed a bit different picture as Netherland was all over the place. They displayed an incredible action on the net and took the score by storm. Russian side trailed behind with a difference of four points at the first technical
timeout (FTT) and failed to come up. Despite putting a lot of effort, they failed to break the rhythm of Oranjes. They came really close to Netherlands at 23-24, but Dutch Manon Flier put an end to the opening affair and led her team to first-set win (25-23).
However, the Russians took the sweet revenge from opponents in the following sets. Russia clipped following three sets in row and emerged as the successful team.
Dutch captain Flier regretted the loss of important match. She said, “t was disappointing for us. We started well and tried to make it hard for Russia, but it was so difficult to play against the world champion. After the beginning of the second set, they
took control of the match, played well and we could not display our fighting spirit as we did in the match against Serbia.”
The head coach of Netherlands Gido Vermeulen expressed the similar views. He commented, “We started well in the first set. However, Russia was better in the rest of the match. We tried to fight, but it did not work. They showed their level from the World
Championship.”
On contrary, the coach and captain of winning team expressed delight after making their way to the semi-finals. Russian mentor Sergey Ovchinnikov praised the convincing effort of his team and congratulated them. Russians will now be focused to repeat the
same winning performance in the next match of 2012 CEV European Olympic Qualifiers, which is set to take place on Saturday.
Russia will meet host Turkey in the semi-final match. It is definitely going to be a thrilling encounter between the hosts and the world champions. Turkey will have certain advantages in the game for being the host but Russia seem pretty determined to pave
their way to the final showdown.
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