Ukraine and Slovenia advance to quarterfinal clash with each other
Recap
Ukraine and Slovenia will go head to head again in Varna on Monday as they meet in one of the men’s CEV EuroVolley 2023 quarterfinals. On Saturday at the Palace of Culture and Sports, Slovenia battled its way back from a two-set deficit against Turkiye to turn it around to a victorious outcome, before Ukraine shut out Portugal in the late eighthfinal in Bulgaria.
Slovenia v Turkiye 3-2 (20-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-23, 15-13)
Slovenia mounted a furious comeback from two sets down to outrace Turkiye on the way to the quarterfinals, with opposite Rok Mozic leading the way with 19 points and outside hitters Tine Urnaut and Klemen Cebulj adding another 17 and 16, respectively. Middle blocker Alen Pajenk registered a 69% success rate in attack and added an ace to finish with 12 points. Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija produced the match high of 32 points, including three of his team’s 15 kill blocks in the match.
After dropping the first point of the match, Turkiye surprised the opponents with a six-point run on Bedirhan Bulbul’s serve. Slovenia fought on to get back to within one, only to let Turkiye score another five in a row on Arslan Eksi’s turn to serve and take a 14-8 lead. Showing a great blocking effort, the Turks cruised on to win the set by 25-20. Stepping up their spiking and with a very solid Bedirhan in both offense and blocking, Turkiye continued to dominate throughout the second set to reach set point at 24-19. Slovenia managed to deny it three times, but on the fourth, a monster block by Yigit Gulmezoglu closed it off at 25-22.
Led by Tine Urnaut and Klemen Cebulj, Slovenia improved its spiking performance, took control of the scoreboard after 12-12 and never looked back. The Turks got back to within one at 21-20, but the Slovenians ran off again to win the set by 25-21 on an opponent error in attack for the last point. Capitalizing on more abundant opponent errors, Slovenia recovered from an early 3-0 Turkish lead and later built up a four-point lead of its own at 15-11. The hard-fought battle continued and, led by a prolific Adis Lagumdzija in attack, the Turks caught up at 20-20 to prompt an exciting ending. They denied the first Slovenian set point, but on the second, a net touch in attack handed the set to Slovenia at 25-23.
The tie-breaker also offered a big fight in the deciding race for the victory. In the end, the Slovenians showed more character and, with Alen Pajenk spiking successfully through the middle for 14-12 and for 15-13, they completed the turnaround to celebrate as quarterfinalists.
Gregor Ropret“We expected a tough match, but our level today was not amazing, especially in the beginning. We had a lot of trouble finding our best game. When we reached our rhythm of play, the match became very equal and open. Eventually, we showed more heart and quality in the key moments, but we also had more luck to win in the end. Turkiye was very prepared for the match as their coach knows us very well, but we showed that we are the better team.”
Setter of Slovenia
Alberto Giuliani“In the end we lost our energy and we lost the match, but I am very proud of my team. The two teams are in the same Olympic qualification tournament. Maybe we have to work on our physical condition, but there isn’t much else to change, because we played a good match today. When some guys come to the team again, we will have more potential. We are having a positive season and we will do our best for the Olympic qualifications.”
Head coach of Turkiye
Portugal v Ukraine 0-3 (20-25, 19-25, 22-25)
Outside hitters Illia Kovalov and captain Oleh Plotnytskyi powered Ukraine towards a convincing three-set victory over Portugal. Plotnytskyi led the team’s scorers with 15 points (eight of them in the third set), including two aces. Kovalov contributed some key points to reach the double digits with a total of 11, including one ace and one block. Portugal’s opposite and captain Alexandre Fereira delivered a match-high 16 points, including three aces. His teammate Lourenco Martins added another 12.
Ukraine started the match better, gained control of the scoreboard and gradually opened an 18-11 lead. However, Alexandre Fereira crowned a series of six Portuguese points with three aces as his team got back to within two, but Ukraine immediately reacted with four in a row and never looked back, eventually winning the set by 25-20. Spearheaded by Illia Kovalov, Ukraine further stepped up its effort in attack to take control of the second set as well. The outside spiked five points at a 100% success rate, in addition to one ace, putting away the set winner with an elegant touch for 25-19. With Oleh Plotnytskyi on fire in offense, Ukraine continued to dominate in the third set before Kovalov again, with a powerful cross-court hit, put away the 25-22 match winner.
Alexandre Fereira“It's definitely not the result we expected. We prepared for the match very well and we were very positive about it. We have many players that are not used to playing such important games. I guess the whole transfer from Tel Aviv to Varna and the atmosphere change additionally influenced our performance today.In general, we had a very good EuroVolley campaign passing the pool stage. We kept learning and growing so I hope for even better results next time.”
Opposite and captain of Portugal
Illia Kovalov“Portugal is good team, but after we beat Spain 3-0 we felt good and began playing better and better. Today we played better than we did against Spain. I think in the next game again Slovenia we will play even better than that. And we will try to win.”
Outside hitter of Ukraine
Varna will host two more EuroVolley games on Monday – the quarterfinals between Slovenia and Ukraine and between France and Romania.