Russia's players had more to celebrate at the Euro U19
Lausanne, Switzerland, April 26, 2017 – Russia enjoyed a comfortable win over hosts Hungary on Wednesday to make it four wins from four in Pool I at the 2017 CEV U19 Volleyball European Championship – Men, in Gyor and in doing so reached the semifinals.
The East Europeans are aiming to be among the top six teams who will qualify for the FIVB Volleyball U19 Boy’s World Championship that takes place in Bahrain from August 18-27, a competition they last won in 2013.
Russia won 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-22), thanks to 12 points from Gleb Radchenko and an MVP performance from Vladislav Spiridonov.
“We started the game very well, but we made a few mistakes, so Hungary were able to catch up with us,” Stanislav Antonov, captain of Russia said. “Some of our boys played for the first time in a European Championship match.”
Also in Pool I, Poland continued to recover from two losses in in their opening two matches by recording the second win of the tournament, 3-1 (25-23, 25-17, 23-25, 25-19) over Bulgaria.
Italy needed to fight hard to defeat Belgium, but despite losing the first two sets they eventually won 3-2 (19-25, 18-25, 25-23, 25-16, 15-13).
In Pool II in Puchov, France ended the Czech Republic’s unbeaten run with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-16) victory, a match in which Celestin Cardin weighed in with 23 points.
“We knew the Czech team very well,” France coach Slimane Belmadi said. “In the beginning we again made mistakes, but then we played the best we can and we won.”
Elsewhere in Pool II, Finland beat Slovakia 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-22), while Turkey saw off Romania 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-15).