Monica Scurginiers
WP SportoweFakty / Krzysztof Porębski / Photo: Belgian National Team
– We need to improve small areas. We can rebuild and win this match – said host Matthijs Verhanneman after the Belgians’ second defeat. The Red Dragons, placed behind Poland and Serbia before the tournament, have so far failed. They lost to Serbia, but unexpectedly also lost to Portugal. In turn, Greece, like them, approached Group A’s Saturday match only with defeat on its account.
It soon became clear who had learned the best lesson from the failed matches. Despite the long exchanges at the start of the Premier Edition, the Belgians clearly dominated their rivals in a significantly changed order. They were forced to make their own mistakes, and they gained a 10-point advantage after entering Sam Deru’s service field (16: 6). With the exception of Dero (86% efficiency), Verhannemann often beat his rivals. Both winger scored a total of 15 points and contributed heavily to the 25:16 victory.
The next volume is very tough. Both teams played for the point, after the attack of Alexandros Raptis, the Greeks took the lead in the match (12:11). Thus, they did not take the initiative, although Nikos Soupani played the best games. He was alone in the Greek attack, so it was not difficult for the Belgians to study the motives of the Greeks at the decisive point of the set. Lenard von Els had a series of good interventions, and Theodoros finished his perfect time set against Volkidis.
Watch the video: Alexander Alivka rejoices over the victory of the U19 team. “Gold is a wonderful thing”
The third edition was also the last, and the Belgians consolidated their dominance over their rival. Once they took advantage of Stijn de Hulst (9: 5), they did not release until after the match. Their main weapon was left-leaning attacks, which the Greeks could not cope with in defense. The point was placed on the “I” by Giorgios Petrias, breaking the service and giving the last points to his opponents.
The Greeks are the Sunday rivals of white and red in the group stage. Their match will start at 20:30. On the other hand, there is a one-day break in the match ahead of the Belgians.
ME Day 3, Group A Results:
Belgium – Greece 3-0 (25:16, 25:22, 25:22)
Belgium: Van den Tries, Deru, D’Hulst, von Elson, D’Heer, Verhannemann, Berin (Libero) Oras Thais, Durlinks, Desmet.
Greece: Papalexiou, Petreas, Kasampalis, Andreopoulos, Mouchlias, Protopsaltis, Kokkinakis (libero) oraz Raptis, Stivachtis, Zoupani.
Group A Table:
ME 2021 Men, Team and
Also read: European Volleyball Championship. Third gold for Serbia? Italians can write a new story
Vital Heinen’s Blog – World Champions Coach writes especially for WP readers!
Report the error
WP SportoweFaktyME 2021 Volleyball Belgium Greece European Cups Volleyball Belgium Men’s National Team in Europe Sam Deru Mathiez Verhannemann Greek Men’s Team Stein de Hulst Lenert von Else
“Proud explorer. Freelance social media expert. Problem solver. Gamer. Extreme travel aficionado.”