Last day in Varna offers unpredictable quarterfinal remakes of pool-stage clashes
Preview
Ukraine and France will have a chance to get back at Slovenia and Romania, respectively, for the losses they suffered to these opponents in the pool stage of the men’s CEV EuroVolley 2023. On the last competition day at the iconic Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna, the program offers quarterfinal clashes between Slovenia and Ukraine at 17:30 local time and between France and Romania at 21:00.
Slovenia lost only a set (to Ukraine) as it cruised through its Pool B campaign to top the standings on a 5-0 win-loss record, but, surprisingly, started off the knockout stage by losing the first two sets of the eighthfinal encounter with Turkiye. The Slovenians went on to win the next three, however, and advanced to the EuroVolley quarterfinals for the fifth consecutive time, after earning silver medals at three of the previous four occasions.
Ukraine, on the other hand, can make it to the top four for the first time in history. Its best EuroVolley result so far was the sixth place at its rookie appearance back in 1993. The team started EuroVolley 2023 with a loss to Slovenia. It lost the next two matches as well, but has since been on a three-game winning streak, crowned by Saturday’s straight-set eighthfinal victory over Portugal.
Slovenia beat Ukraine the last three times they met. Before its victory at EuroVolley 2023, Slovenia won their 2022 FIVB World Championship quarterfinal, also by 3-1, and their second encounter in the 2018 CEV European Golden League in five sets. Ukraine’s straight-set win in their first European League meeting in 2018 was the team’s last success against Slovenia.
Nik Mujanovic“We want to win. The match will certainly be very challenging. The Ukrainians will be no less motivated than us, but if we enter the game seriously, without underestimation and do what we know how to do, we should bring the game to the end in our favor. In the first match between us in Varna, we served very poorly in the first set. In addition, it will be necessary to reduce the number of unused easy balls and slightly raise the level of reception and defense behind the block.”
Opposite of Slovenia
Illia Kovalov“I think in the next game again Slovenia we will play even better than in the match against Portugal. And we will try to win. We lost to Slovenia in the pool, but we were without our captain Oleh Plotnytskyi, who was injured. Now, with him, we will try to win.”
Outside hitter of Ukraine
Reigning Olympic champion France stumbled only once in its Pool D campaign in Tel Aviv, shockingly losing to Romania in four sets. That setback, however, did not affect the team’s final placement on top of the pool standings on a 4-1 win-loss record. In a hard-fought eighthfinal in Varna, France managed to overcome host Bulgaria in straight sets and progressed to the last eight for the first time since 2019, when the team finished fourth.
Romania lost its first two games in Tel Aviv, but has since been on a four-match winning streak that has taken the team through a huge upset of France to finish pool in third place, and a well-earned 3-2 victory over Croatia in the eighthfinals to qualify among the top eight in Europe for the first time since 1985. If Romania outplays France again on Monday, it will be the first time it reaches the semifinals in 46 years.
France and Romania will meet for the 12th time at the European Championships and the southern Europeans lead the western Europeans by nine wins against two in this head-to-head series. Before Romania defeated France at EuroVolley 2023, France’s last victory over this opponent was a straight-set win at the pool stage of EuroVolley 2019.
Andrea Giani"It's completely different to play against a particular team in the pool and in the eliminations. Back in Tel Aviv, we had the opportunity to use different line-ups and give some more playing time to the athletes who were not in their perfect shape due to injuries. Now we can't afford that since with every win we go forward. The most important thing is the focus and, after that, we are chasing quality, both technically and tactically.”
Head coach of France
Sergiu Stancu"We all know that a pool-phase game is not the same as an eliminatory game. Of course, France have a lot of quality in their roster to be able to play this kind of games on a very good level. On our side, we are thinking of repeating the same performance, because we had a good game over in Tel Aviv, and chasing our chance until the end. We are very happy to be here and we’ll do our best to win again.”
Head coach of Romania