Volleyball Update: Russia snatched gold-medal victory in CEV Men’s Junior European Volleyball Championship 2010
The CEV Men’s European Volleyball Championship concluded the final results on Sunday, 5th September 2010 in Belarusian city Bobruisk. Russia finally emerged as the top team of the tournament as they successfully got their grip on the gold-ware.
The final match of the championship was played in the totally sold out arena. 5,000 volleyball devotees marched to the venue and witness the final showdown between the two best teams, Bulgaria and Russia. Both the finalists covered previous stages with excellent success stories. Russia captured a spot in the final match without any loss while Bulgaria lost one of its matches.
The final combat was played in a great fashion and the extraordinary athletes on both sides of the court displayed outstanding performance. Bulgarian star player Nikolay Pehchev rocked the scene with beautiful game. Likewise, Russian Filipov and Kovalev played the part to make this match a memorable fight in history of Junior European Championship.
The first set started with strong attack from Bulgaria. They delivered perfect and powerful serves which helped the earned 3 points’ lead over Russia. Bulgaria targeted Russian defence line and hit speedy spikes in their court. On the other side of the court, Russia took a little time to develop the right tone for the game. They answered back Bulgaria and took the score to 7-6. Nikishin produced good spikes and created a lot of trouble for Bulgaria. Russian maintain lead (8-7) at the end of first technical timeout (TTO)
Kovalev blocked the powerful shots by Bulgarian attacker and received appreciation and applause from audience. The arena was rocked with uproar of fans with achievement of every single point. Russia extended the lead to 12-9 on a poor reception of Dragiev of Bulgaria. Both teams remained under huge pressure of the major title but Bulgaria managed to steal points. They chased Russian score and tied the game at 21-21. In the meantime, Bulgaria’s Ragin scored two points in a row and finished the first set with Bulgarian victory.
The second set started and Bulgaria still got upper-hand on Russia. They led the second set with 4-2 and kept on hitting point-scoring shots. Russia was down with poor performance. The Russian coach Shlyapnikov instructed the players to strengthen their defence. The first TTO reached and Bulgarian lead was maintained. Afterwards, Russia scored a few points and returned in the game. They started attack and gradually picked up pace. Filipov and Nikishin came up with heavy strike and helped to overcome Bulgarian aces.
Russian score rose up and Bulgaria fell back with gap of two points (21-19). Russians earned two more points with powerful aces by Filipov and attained the set point. The second set finished with Russian success as Kovalev blocked Penchev for 25-20.
The balance was achieved in the game which restored Russian players’ confidence. They entered the third set with strong impression and imposed 4-0 lead. Russian focused on attack and also worked on their defence line. They scored a few more points and achieved 9-3. Russia demonstrated a stunning game in third set and shocked Bulgaria. The Russian “army” was on fire and they took the score to 17-6. Bulgaria seemed totally helpless and hopeless after embarrassing performance in third set. Russia restricted them to score only 15 points while they achieved set-win (25-15).
Bulgaria made desperate moves in the fourth set and tried hard to level the game score. Russian was able to build lead in start but Bulgaria chased the score and tied the set at 19-19. Somehow, Filipov and Nkishin helped Russia break the dead-lock and extend Russia’s score. Bulgaria could only add two more points and lost the set at 25-21.
Russia won the final of CEV Junior European Championship.
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