Romania books a slot in the Final Four – 2011 CEV European League – Men
The exhilarating action of 2011 CEV European League resumed on Friday, July 8 after a break of almost two weeks. In the men’s category, Pool C topper Romanian Team scored a great win over competitors from Belarus. The match was played in Constanta, Romania,
where the home squad claimed victory by posting 3-1 (23-25, 28-26, 25-21, and 26-24). Romania bagged 8th win during the prelims of the European League and advanced to the Final Four stage of the tournament.
The guest team from Belarus was quite energetic in the beginning of the match. They opened the game in a great style and hit some full of power serves. Andrei Radziuk of Belarus served well and helped his side lead the score at first technical timeout. Romanian
side, on the other hand, took a slow start and trailed behind. Belarusian Siarhei Antanovich and Andrei formed a good combination and came strong on opponents. However, Florin Voinea of Romania stood up against rivals. He dismissed some of their good attack
attempts and saved points. Meanwhile, Romania hitters put their magic in the game and successfully broke the rhythm of opposite side. Romanian score got better at second technical timeout as they managed to build at 2-point lead over Belarus (16-14).
As the players returned to court after the second technical break, Belarusian players threw everything in attack. They came from different angles and surpassed Romanian team. Belarus earned better status at 21-18 and didn’t allow Romania go up. First set
was closed at 25-23, while Belarus remained successful.
After dropping the opening set of the match, home team was totally raged up. They made a stunning start in the second set and devastated opponents’ end with killing shots and deadly spikes. Romania picked up 2-point at first mandatory stop (8-6). Alexandru
was the main weapon of Romanian team in second set. He put away unstoppable shots and registered consecutive points. Belarus didn’t give up and continued putting more and more effort. Artur Udrys of Belarus did a great job at the defence. His solid blocks
made it quite difficult for Romanian spikers to poke the ball. Nonetheless, Belarus could only shorten the gap of points. Romania maintained the lead up till second technical timeout and denied the efforts of visitors. Romania won second set with two point
lead at 28-26 and equalled the game score.
Third set was a neck-to-neck competition between two sides. Belarus was in full try to regain the control of operation. On the other hand, charged-up Romanian team received huge applause from local fans for winning previous set and they were not ready to
let Belarus go. The exchange of long rallies created a great vibe in third set of the game. Romania was one-point ahead of Belarus at the FTT. Romanian captain Bogdan Olteanu and opposite Adrian Gontariu led their team with better score. Belarus couldn’t put
up with heavy strike of volleys and dropped third set as well.
Things were not going well for Belarus but still the team struggled to play the fifth set of the game. On contrary, Romania seemed fully prepared to put an end to the match in fourth set. They confirmed their ambition of victory by winning fourth set at
26-24. Belarus suffered the set-back, while home squad celebrated the amazing victory after a tiring competition.