Spaniards overcome the hosts in five-set thriller – Volleyball News
In the influential fifth leg of the 2012 CEV Men’s European League, teams from Spain and Denmark crossed their ways on Saturday.
The Spaniard exhibited one of their best performances during the campaign and overcame the tough rival Denmark in a five-set match, 3-2 (25-16, 25-27, 23-25, 25-17, 15-13). It was a heated competition from start to end that featured many a thrilling moments. Steel Arena KOSICE in Slovakia set up the field of play for the match. Spain dropped its last match again Israel on Friday but managed to return in the game with this particular win.
Spain’s top gun Daniel ROCAMORA did a fantastic job and totalled match-high 29 points. He was followed by his teammates ALTAYO and RODRIGUEZ, who added 18 and 12 points, respectively.
On the other hand, Danish Casper Munk Christiansen and KNUDSEN added 12 points each.
Spaniards came out firing in the first set and hit with power. They devastated Danish defence and quickly moved to 8-2 lead at the first technical timeout. Spanish coach Fernando Munoz used some of the back-up players, who worked out excellent performance. Denmark trailed behind and eventually suffered the loss at 16-25.
After dropping the opening stanza, Denmark resisted in the second set. The Danish players regrouped and managed to go up on the scoreboard. As the game progressed, Spain traded lead but Denmark regained better status and finished the set, 27-25.
In the tie-breaker third set, the rookies of the year (Denmark) continued with success. Christiansen got enough help from the setter to produce point-scoring shots. He was joined by other Danish players, who led the team to another set-win with two points (25-23).
Denmark improved to 2-1 in the match after winning two sets in row. However, it forced Spain to come up with a new plan. The Spaniards hit back and levelled the game score by winning fourth set with 25-17 on board.
In the fifth decisive set, both teams played to their full potentials and used many different tactics to down each other. After an incredibly close competition, Spain settled for 15-13 win that led the team to 3-2 victory in the match.
Danish assistant coach Martin Olafsen revealed in his post-match comments: “I think the Spanish coach was very clever in opting for some fresh players after their defeat to Israel on Friday and we also did more or less the same. We had a tough time at the beginning but our guys gradually adjusted their play to the style of their opponents. We could have won the tie-break but I am still happy that we came back strongly after clearly losing the first set. This is also a good experience for us.”
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