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In what would have been the deciding match of the pool for first place, Switzerland took Slovakia by surprise in the first set and for a while kept their hopes alive of overturning the result of the first leg.

But Slovakia were quick to react and controlled the score throughout the next three to take the win and remain undefeated after four matches, edging ever closer to the coveted first place and a direct ticket to the finals. Only a miracle could now save Switzerland from having to bring out the calculators to determine if they're amongst the five second-ranked teams that also advance.

Matej Patak with 15 points was the leading force of Slovakia, though Luca Ulrich claimed the match high of 17 for Switzerland and Thomas Braendli's five blocks in the game was just not enough.

Slovakia head coach Marek Kardos: "Today we were first and foremost patient. We lost the first set but not our confidence. We served better and better, we increased our level. The Swiss also took risks at serve, but unlike us, they made many errors. Although we have 4 victories in a row and tomorrow if we beat Albania we will be qualified, I say it is a balanced group in which anyone can win. Proof of this is that we also lost a set to Albania. We are glad that in these conditions we won all our matches. And tomorrow we hope to rejoice even more because a victory with Albania will lead us to the European Championship."

Switzerland head coach Mario Motta: "We started the match very well and took the first set easily. Then our errors did not appear on the side out phase but on the transition phase. And against a team like Slovakia, when you make such mistakes, you cannot recover. Tomorrow with Romania will be another match, another story, another book. I know a lot of calculations are done. All I am interested in is playing good volleyball and winning."