Congratulations Ladies & Gentlemen!
Slovakia men’s team won an epic 5 set match against 2007 European Champions Spain to take home the European League crown for the very first time. This victory grants the hardoworking Slovaks a ticket to compete at the 2012 World League Qualification Round against Canada.
From Cev.Lu:
Spain vs. Slovakia 2:3 (22-25, 25-22, 26-24, 22-25, 12-15)
A great ace by captain Michal Masny gave the Slovak team a perfect start of the match and the 4’000 spectators that had packed the stands of the “Steel Arena“ enough adrenalin to turn them into the home guys’ eighth player. Maybe that is what gave them the edge in the first set as the battle on the court was fierce with both sides performing at a very high level. Fewer unforced errors, better blocking effort from Slovakia and some fantastic play by setter Masny also contributed for the conclusive 25-22 in the set.
The Spaniards stroke back with the same score in the second set. The two teams continued to fight hard for every point. Spain had a slight lead through most of the set but Slovakia played catch-up. With four points in a row for the home team, that ended with another ace by Masny, bringing the score from 17:20 to 21:20, things seemed to be turning around. Spain responded with a 3-point run and substitute player Francisco José Rodriguez attacked successfully to round off the final score of the set in his team’s favor.
The third set was almost like a mirror image of the second. This time Spain was the one breathing in Slovakia’s neck, except that at the end the team of Fernando Munoz not only caught up at 24:24, but also took the next two points to earn a 2:1 lead. Spain’s reception was more efficient in this set which helped Sergio Noda continue piling up an impressive spiking tally.
The spectacular game at the “Steel Arena” continued in the fourth set. Emanuele Zanini’s boys made a good start and were up by 4 points at the first technical time-out. Gradually, the visiting team tied at 10:10 and, in turn, took control of the scoreboard. Substitute player Peter Michalovic took this chance to shine and with 9 points in this set helped his team take the advantage again at 21:20. Slovakia’s block took over the rest of the match. It achieved three of the team’s last five points in the set to close it at 25-22 and prompt a tie-break.
Led by Emanuel Kohut, the tremendous blocking effort of the boys in blue continued in the fifth set. With Michalovic also extending his unstoppable spiking streak into the tie-break, the block gave Slovakia the break points they needed to emerge as winners.
Noda topped the scorers’ chart for this match with 28 points, supported by teammate Iban Perez with 24. Michalovic was the most prolific player for the winning team with 20 points.
“Our second title from the European League is very special, because we won it in front of the home crowd” an excited Slovak captain Michal Masny stated after the awards ceremony. “It was a very good final on both sides and this makes me feel even happier that we won”.
“Congratulations to Slovakia! It was an excellent game for the people to enjoy” Spain’s captain Julian Garcia-Torres said. “After 2:1 we were close to the victory, but Slovakia played very well in the fourth set and in the tie-break was also slightly better than us”.
The head coach of Spain Fernando Munoz praised and thanked the organizers for this great final four. “I enjoyed coaching this final in an atmosphere like this” he said. “It was a good experience for me. The key to Slovakia’s win was the substitution of their opposites. We just could not find a way to stop Michalovic”.
Emanuele Zanini, head coach of Slovakia, was extremely satisfied with his team’s achievement. “It was an excellent match, both technically and tactically. The excellent performance of young opposite Michalovic was what made the difference. The opponent had studied Milan Bencz very well and it was a good idea to replace him with Peter for the rest of the game. Spain played with an amazing defense and we should learn from them”.
The Bronze Medal was won by Slovenia who defeated Romania in straight sets.
Individual awards:
MVP: Tomas Kmet (SVK)
Best Blocker: Tomas Kmet (SVK)
Best Libero: Roman Ondrusek (SVK)
Best Receiver: Francesc Llenas (ESP)
Best Server: Alen Pajenk (SLO)
Best Setter: Michal Masny (SVK)
Best Scorer: Sergio Noda (ESP)
Best Spiker: Sergio Noda (ESP)
***
Brakocevic Leads Serbia To Defend European League Crown…
Despite the absence of Jelena Nikolic, Serbia defeated Neslihan Darnel and Turkey in straight sets (25-17, 25-21, 25-23) to defend their CEV European League crown. This victory gives Serbia the ticket to represent Europe in the 2012 edition of the Grand Prix. As far as we know, Turkey has also qualified for the 2012 GP.
Raw Pics of the Final Match:
Bulgaria managed to win the bronze medal after finishing second in last year’s edition. Strashimira Filipova led her team with 18 points to defeat the resilient Czech Republic (25-21, 28-26, 25-22). We have a feeling Bulgaria is one of the teams to watch out for in the coming years. Their program continues to improve.
Raw Pics of the Bronze Medal Match:
Our favorite part, the Best Players of the 2011 Women’s European League:
MVP: Jovana Brakocevic (SRB)
Best Scorer: Helena Havelkova (CZE)
Best Spiker: Jovana Brakocevic (SRB)
Best Server: Eda Erdem (TUR)
Best Setter: Maja Ognjenovic (SRB)
Best Libero: Gizem Güresen (TUR)
Best Receiver: Sarka Barborkova (CZE)
Finally, the Awarding Ceremony.
We’d like to congratulate all the winners and the teams who competed this year.
Most of all, a big thank you to our friend Cetin for taking and sharing the pics to us. These images are copyrighted, send us an email to INFO@Volleywood.Net if you want to use them for your blog or for any other purposes.
See ya next year!
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