Spain and the Netherlands book their tickets for Belarus

2010 CEV Junior European Championship - Men

Soria, Spain, July 9, 2010. The two unbeaten leaders of Pool E, i.e. The Netherlands and Spain, clipped the two tickets to Belarus for the final round of the 2010 CEV Men’s Junior European Championship scheduled in late August. The Dutch and the Spaniards clearly won their respective matches and do not need to wait to the last competition day for advancing to the final round.
The Netherlands defeated Greece 3:1 (16-25, 25-19, 25-22 and 25-17) in the first match of the day. Greece surprised in the first set with a great offensive work. Palentzas and Aspiotis were the leaders for the Greek team. After this set, Holland reacted and turned the score around. A great block work and a very effective service allowed the Netherlands to dominate the game. Only in the third set, both teams were balanced but two consecutive Dutch blocks ended the third set. Greece was getting very nervous and the Netherlands finished the job in the fourth set and booked their trip to Belarus.
The Greek head coach, Giorgios Karavidopoulos, said after the game: "One more time, we made too many mistakes and gave the victory to the opposite team. I’m satisfied with the first set, but in all the rest we were very nervous. I want to congratulate Spain and Netherlands for their qualification for the final round”.
Dutch mentor Ron Zwerver was very happy: "We do not play at a high level. We have many problems, our captain was sick. From the second set our serve worked better and with a great block we won the match. This victory opens the door for the main goal we have for this summer, qualifying for the European Championship".
Later in the evening Spain beat Ukraine in straight sets (25-19, 25-15 and 25-12). The Spaniards made a great work in the first set to dominate their rival. The powerful spikes of Fran Ruiz, top scorer of the match with 11 points, and the unforced errors of the Ukrainian side, decided the first set. The Spanish performance was getting better and better and the superiority of Ricardo Maldonado’s team became reality. Spain achieved their goal and got a ticket for the next European Championship.
Jesús Bruque, Spanish setter, noted. "We know this was a complicated match. We did never play against Ukraine and for this we had some doubts at the beginning of the match. We calmed down and got the victory”.
Fran Ruiz was the match’s top scorer again. The Spanish receiver was very happy for the win. "We worked many hours to qualify for the next European Championship and this victory shows that our hard work has a great reward”.

Results
The Netherlands vs. Greece 3:1 (16-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-17)
Ukraine vs. Spain 0:3 (19-25, 15-25, 12-25)

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