In semifinal POLAND will play against FINLAND

As soon as the first match on the last competition day in Pool I of the 2013 CEV Youth Volleyball European Championship - Boys was over, the last semi final spot of the tournament was filled. Belgium made sure it earned the 3 points from its encounter with Austria which was enough to claim the second place in the pool for a chance to face Russia in one of Saturday’s semi final matches. The team of Steven Vanmedegael ran over its opponents in straight sets.

All that the following two matches of the day had to do is determine the two teams that will stay in Laktaši and fight for the distribution of the fifth through the eighth place in the final rankings of the competition. Slovenia needed to win at least two sets against Poland to qualify, but it won none and provided all the answers before the third match of the day - Italy and Austria would finish in positions 3 and 4 in the pool and would join Turkey and France in the battle for the fifth place in the championship, for a ticket to the 2013 FIVB Youth Volleyball World Championship in Mexico or at least for a place in the 2013 European Youth Olympic Festival in the Netherlands.  In a more relaxed last game of the pool with no direct impact on the standings, Italy shut out the host team of Bosnia and Herzegovina for its third win in the competition.

Austria vs. Belgium 0:3 (14-25, 17-25, 18-25)

Slovenia vs. Poland 0:3 (18-25, 19-25, 12-25)
 
Although Poland had already secured the first place in the pool, it obviously had no intentions to give out gifts or let the steam off today.  It shut out Slovenia in 67 minutes to stay unbeaten in the tournament and left the opponent out of the next phase of the competition.  Poland’s Aleksander Sliwka and Bartosz Bucko tallied 11 points each to become the game’s most prolific players.  Toncek Stern was Slovenia’s top scorer with 8 points.
 
However, the match was not as one-sided as the final result may suggest.  In the first set the Slovenes were holding up through their 11th point before Poland managed to break away with a series of 5 points in row.  Wieslaw Czaja’s boys continued to spike and serve way better than the opponents to close the set at 25-18.
 
In the second set Slovenia was even able to take an early 4-point lead and control the game until 15-15.  The first time Poland took over was immediately before the second technical time-out.  Its blockers showed off their skills at the net as it piled up another impressive advantage for the final 25-19 in the set.
 
In the third set Piotr Badura’s impenetrable block (5 points) and some tough serving from Bartosz Bucko and Krzysztof Bienkowski is what made Slovenia surrender.  Poland established total domination on the court and stormed to finish it all off at 25-12.
 
Sebastian Pawlik, assistant coach of Poland: “We are very happy about being in the semi finals. This was a very good match and I hope that we will play as good on Saturday against Finland.  I also want to congratulate the Belgian team for reaching semis.”
 
Iztok Ksela, head coach of Slovenia: “Congratulations to Poland! I think this was one of their best performances. We played significantly worse than yesterday and we missed a few chances to reverse the result.  During this championship we have shown that we are competitive enough to play with the best European teams. We were fighting and it could be said that we are satisfied with our result.”
 
Bartosz Bucko, captain of Poland: “We are very pleased with the fact that our team has won every single match at this championship so far.  The Slovenian team is very talented and I think that they could have played much better.”
 
Jernej Vrhunc, captain of Slovenia: “We were fighting to the last breath, but Poland was much better and we could not beat them. We really gave our best to keep the score equal but we have not succeeded. Congratulations to the Polish team and good luck in semi finals!”
 
Bosnia & Herzegovina vs. Italy 0:3 (15-25, 17-25, 16-25)

Semifinal matches (20/04):

17.30 POLAND - FINLAND

20.00 RUSSIA - BELGIUM