Slovakia, Great Britain clinch success on day-1 of CEV Continental Cup semifinals – Volleyball news
Female tandems from Slovakia and Great Britain proved their endeavours on day-1 of the 2012 CEV Continental Cup Semifinals in Sevres, France.
Slovakian pairs appeared in a total of five matches and clinches success in three, which helped them finish the day with 3-2 ratio. On the other hand, GB teams clean swept the rivals from Bulgaria and claimed 3-0 victory.
Slovakia started the day in a dramatic way. The duo of Michalovicova-Cizmarova took on Vodeb-Fabjan, S. of Slovenia in the opening match. The two teams contested their skills on the net and staged a good competition. Slovenian pair claimed the opening set
of the match with five points at 21-16 and followed it up with 21-10 in the next stanza. Slovakia dropped the decision in straight sets and suffered the loss of opening match.
However, the pairing of Dubovcova and Nestarcova put Slovakia back on track with victory in the second match. They overpowered Istenic-Jakob of Slovenia in a three-set match. Slovakian side dropped the first frame but controlled the action in the next two
sets.
Eventually, they pulled off success in the match. The final set scores were 2-1 (16-21, 21-11, 15-11).
The seesaw battle continued and Slovenia once again came on top with third-match win. The Slovenian Vodeb-Fabjan, S. carried the momentum into their second match and downed Dubovcova-Nestarcova of Slovakia, 2-1 (17-21, 21-17, 15-12). The pressure shifted
on Slovakian side as Slovenian improved to 2-1 in the competition.
Slovakia’s Michalovicova-Cizmarova met Istenic-Jakob in the fourth fixture of the day. The match spanned over three sets and featured many ups and downs.
Nonetheless, the Slovakian pair managed to sideline the opponents and created the tie of 2-2. Slovenia received 1-2 (21-17, 20-22, 10-15) defeat in the fourth match.
As a result of tie, two sides were offered to play the 15-point golden set. Slovakia sent Dubovcova-Nestarcova to compete Vodeb-Fabjan, S. of Slovenia in the decisive final set. The former proved to be better and posted 15-8 win over Slovenia. Overall, Slovakia
emerged successful with 3-2 record.
Elsewhere, teams from Great Britain and Bulgaria came into competition. A total of four matches were scheduled to be played between GB and Bulgarian teams. GBR pulled off success in first three matches of the day, while the fourth fixture ended in a forfeit.
Hence, Great Britain claimed better status with 3-0 record.
Next up, the two winning sides (Slovakia and Great Britain) will meet in the semi-finals of the tournament slated for Thursday. The winner of the second-day matches will advance to the final showdown of the tournament, which will take place on Saturday.
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