Slovenia book first Pool B ticket to EuroVolley eighthfinals
Recap
Slovenia became the first team from Pool B to earn a spot in the men’s CEV EuroVolley 2023 eighthfinals. On Saturday, it shut out Spain to tally its third win out of three games in the pool so far and cement its place among the top four in the final pool standings. Meanwhile, the Spaniards dropped to a 1-2 win-loss record. In the sold-out second match of the day at the Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna, Bulgaria delighted the fantastic home fans by recovering from a first-set loss to celebrate a four-set win over Ukraine, leaving the opponents winless in three matches and bottom of the table. The Lions improved to 2-1 and are currently second on six points.
Slovenia v Spain 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-15)
With Klemen Cebulj and captain Tine Urnaut leading the way with 17 and 14 points, respectively, Slovenia outplayed Spain on all counts to claim an emphatic straight-set win. The two outside hitters produced two aces each. Cebulj also added a kill block to his tally. Their Spanish counterpart Jordi Ramon was his team’s most productive scorer with eight points.
Slovenia faced few issues in dominating the first set. Alen Pajenk completely owned the net with a 100% success rate in attack and three kill blocks to lead his team on a comfortable cruise towards a 25-19 win. In a completely one-sided second set, Slovenia ran the show from start to finish and broke away by a wide distance. Klemen Cebulj won a joust to help put an end to the set at 25-15. Spain attempted a comeback at the beginning of the third set, but could only hold up through 11-9, after which some excellent serving by Tine Urnaut helped Slovenia take control over the scoreboard. With Cebulj on fire in attack, the Slovenians extended their lead. He also hammered two aces in a row to push his team closer to match point, and when it came, Saso Stalekar monster-blocked for the 25-15 match winner.
Jani Kovacic“It seemed like Spain wanted to rest some of their main players, who didn't start the match, while on the other side, we got on court with our ‘first six’. It was really enjoyable to play today. We stayed focused. Every ball counted and I am very happy that we won pretty easy.”
Libero of Slovenia
Miguel Rivera“Slovenia is one of the top teams in the world. When you play against such a strong team, you need to perform perfectly and hope that they perform under their best level. It’s really difficult to score points against them, because they are very solid on the block. We were playing pretty well until the middle of the sets, when they start to touch some balls and play really smart in counterattack, making smart decisions and scoring easy points against us.”
Head coach of Spain
Bulgaria v Ukraine 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-23)
Martin Atanasov was clearly the man of the match as he led his teammates back from a set down towards a 3-1 victory. The outside hitter delivered a match-high 18 points, including an ace and two kill blocks. Atanasov registered a 68% success rate in attack and 72% in reception. His cross-court teammate Aleksandar Nikolov contributed 13 points, while opposite Tsvetan Sokolov added another 11. Ukraine’s best scorer Oleh Plotnytskyi also produced 18 points.
Ukraine stormed the match on a 4-1 run and did not look back through the rest of the first set. Oleh Plotnytskyi led the way in attack as his team paced on to maintain a comfortable lead and in the end crowned his performance with a pulverizing ace for 25-20. Stepping up their serving efforts, the Bulgarians reacted swiftly and took control of the scoreboard without letting Ukraine in front even for a moment throughout the second set. Martin Atanasov was a key player in the home team’s domination as they leveled the match after a 25-17 win.
Riding the momentum, Bulgaria continued to spike better and block better than the opponents in the third set, snatching the lead right from the start and never letting go. Ukraine fought back from a seven-point lag to return to within two, but in the end the Lions finished it off at 25-20, crowning a three-point series with an Aleksandar Nikolov ace and a Georgi Seganov monster block. The fantastic support from the devoted Bulgarian fans on the stands kept fueling the home side throughout the fourth set as well, while Ukraine started committing far too many unforced errors. Atanasov continued to lead Bulgaria towards the victory, but the team had to survive a late scare, arising from a series of three denied match point, including two back-to-back aces by sub-in Yevhenii Kisiliuk. However, he wasted the next serve to get the Bulgarian celebrations started at 25-23.
Aleksandar Nikolov“I wasn't in the best possible shape during the first two matches and now I am really happy that I am finally able to play especially in front of the full stands here in Varna. It was my childhood dream to compete here and now I am living it. It's just amazing! We are currently growing as a team and improving match by match. I hope that we will keep it that way in the games remaining.”
Outside hitter of Bulgaria
Illia Kovalov“We won the first set, but after that we lost. So many sets we played the same. After we win the first set, we have to win the match, but we didn’t. We played well, but Bulgaria played better, and we lost 1-3. I don’t know what happened.”
Outside hitter of Ukraine
Sunday’s sixth competition day in Pool B will feature Spain against Finland at 17:30 local time, and Bulgaria against Croatia at 20:30.