Romania to challenge France in EuroVolley quarterfinals
Recap
Romania became the first team to advance to the quarterfinals of the men’s CEV EuroVolley 2023 after beating Croatia in five sets in Friday’s first semifinal at the Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna. It is the first time the southern European nation qualifies among the top eight in Europe since 1985. In one of Monday’s quarterfinals in Varna, Romania will face reigning Olympic champions France, who managed to shut out hosts Bulgaria in Friday’s late match at the Palace.
Croatia v Romania 2-3 (17-25, 20-25, 25-17, 28-26, 12-15)
Romania emerged victorious from a five-set battle with Croatia, with left-handed opposite Alexandru Rata leading the way with 30 points – 25 kills at a 61% success rate in attack, three aces and two blocks. Outside hitter Adrian Aciobanitei added another 16, including two of the team’s 10 aces in the game and two of the 13 stuffs. As a whole, Croatia did better in both serving (13 aces) and blocking (14 stuffs), while their opposite and captain Petar Dirlic led the team’s scorers with 29 points, including two aces and four blocks.
Four points in a row by Alexandru Rata, garnished by two back-to-back aces, gave Romania an early 5-1 lead. The Romanians continued to dominate, not without the help of three more aces, one from Rata and two from Robert Calin, and reached a 24-12 set point. Croatia managed to deny it five times before, finally, a block-out shot by Adrian Aciobanitei stopped the first set at 25-17. The Romanians started the second set with an ace by Adrian Aciobanitei. He added another one during an eight-point run that put Romania at a 16-8 advantage. In the end, a first-tempo attack by Bela Florian Bartha closed the set at 25-20.
Croatia stepped up its spiking and serving efforts in the third set to gain control on the court. Spearheaded by captain Petar Dirlic, who attacked at 100% and added two aces and a kill block to his nine-point set tally, the Croatians cruised on to a 25-17 close. A huge battle unfolded on the court during the fourth set. The lead changed hands several times and Romania was the first to reach match point. Croatia denied it to push the set into overtime and, in the end, Dirlic put up a monster block for 28-26 to level the match.
Romania stormed the tie-breaker on a 4-1 run. Croatia battled its way back to draw level at 8-8, only to allow the opponents to run away again. They were making far too many unforced errors and that proved decisive. Even Romania’s winning point for 15-12 came on a serving error by Marko Sedlacek.
Cedric Enard“We were not ready to play at the start of the eighthfinal. We needed two sets to start playing. Then we went into the game. There was a good reaction from the players in the third and the fourth sets, even in the fifth, but when you start like that it is not enough. It is expensive at the end of the match to give two sets to the opponent almost without playing. I was not surprised of the level of Romania. I knew from their games in the other pool that they are fighters and tough to play.”
Head coach of Croatia
Sergiu Stancu“We knew that Croatia is going to be a tough opponent, but we outplayed them in the first two sets with very good serve and block-defense. Then they pushed us with their serve, but fortunately we managed to come back in the most important time of the match. It's a very big win for us. I would like to congratulate the whole team since the players were the ones who did everything.”
Head coach of Romania
France v Bulgaria 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-15)
Turning the course of the first set in the money time, France went on to take control of the rest of the match on the way to a straight-set victory. Middle blocker Barthelemy Chinenyeze registered a solid 77% in attack to finish as top scorer of the match on a total of 13 points, including three kill blocks. Outside hitter Timothee Carle added another 10 points, while Bulgaria’s most prolific player, middle Aleks Grozdanov, also scored 10 times, including an ace and four blocks.
Inspired by the enthusiastic fan support from the packed stands, Bulgaria had the lead for most of the first set. However, after four points in a row with sub-in Earvin Ngapeth behind the serving line, including an ace and a couple of monster blocks for 21-19, France took control of the scoreboard and soon closed the set at 25-21 on a serving error by Bulgaria. Improving their first-tempo attacks, the Olympic champions broke into the second set on an 8-1 run and never looked back. Bulgaria fought on, stepping up its blocking, but only managed to get back to within two at 23-21, before Timothee Carle fired the 25-21 winner. In a one-sided third set, France fired as many as five aces to outplay the home side completely on the way to an emphatic 25-15 close. The match winner also came from a direct point on Antoine Brizard’s serve.
Earvin Ngapeth“This was our best match since the beginning of this EuroVolley. After the pool phase, we discussed things because it wasn’t us in Tel Aviv. There we weren’t playing with smiles, with our energy. Fortunately, this is what we did today. It was important to start the game with concentration, and we did good. It was a full house here, in Varna, and we prefer to play in such an atmosphere, with many fans cheering.”
Outside hitter of France
Teodor Salparov“Unfortunately, the result is not the one we expected and wanted, but the match was full of emotions. I would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to our fans, who didn't stop supporting us at any moment even when we were seven points behind. The turning point of the match was the first set. We took the lead, but we couldn't win eventually and the match went in the opposite direction.”
Libero of Bulgaria
Four more eighthfinals will be played on Saturday. In Varna, Slovenia will meet Turkiye at 17:30 local time and Portugal will take on Ukraine at 20:30. Over in Bari, host Italy will face North Macedonia at 18:00 local time and the Netherlands and Germany will lock horns at 21:00.