Poland and Russia set for a battle of the giants in the grand finale in Laktaši

Poland vs. Russia is the big final of the 2013 CEV Youth Volleyball European Championship - Boys tomorrow as the two teams stayed unbeaten through their semi final matches in Laktaši today. The Polish and the Russian machines ran over Finland and Belgium, respectively, in straight sets and set up a battle of the giants for European gold at 20:10 CET on Sunday evening. Before that, the squads of Pertti Honkanen and Steven Vanmedegael will face each other in a quest for the bronze.

Poland vs. Finland 3:0 (25-14, 25-23, 25-13)
 
68 minutes was all the time that Poland needed to overcome the Finnish resistance in the first semi final in Laktaši.  The team of Wieslaw Czaja maintained a perfect record of 18:0 in sets so far in the tournament after a convincing 3:0 victory over the boys of Pertti Honkanen. Captain Bartosz Bucko impressed with 23 points to become the best scorer of the match.  7 points were sufficient for Niko Kasimir Vuorinen to climb on top of Finland’s scorers’ list.
 
The Bartosz Bucko Show was most attractive in the first set as the Polish captain piled up 11 points.  Finland found no arguments against its strong opponent and lost by 14-25 shaped up by Piotr Badura’s successful spike through the middle for the final point.  The second set was the most disputed one.  The main reason: Poland again.  Its players started making way too many mistakes and gave a chance to Finland to stay in contention almost throughout the set.  After 23-23 however, Poland made sure not to let this one slip away and won the following two rallies to double the score in sets.  In set 3 Wieslaw Czaja’s boys once again showed a superb performance that ended at 25-13 with a spectacular ace by Aleksander Sliwka to mark the start of the Polish celebration.
 
Sebastian Pawlik, assistant coach of Poland: “We are happy because we ensured our place in the final. I think we played very well today. Finland played well too, but we were better. Tomorrow we are playing against a strong opponent, but I think that if we play like we did so far during this tournament we can win.“
 
Pertti Honkanen, head coach of Finland: "We had a key moment in the second set, but we did not take our chance. As the Polish team is very strong they did not give us another chance. It is hard now, but we do not give up. We are focusing on the match tomorrow."
 
Bartosz Bucko, captain of Poland: “I am very happy because we secured a medal. It was a very good match today. We played very well. In the second set our concentration dropped, but we managed to win. Tomorrow we will probably play against Russia. It will be a tough game, but we must fight. I think we can win it.“
 
Sakari Mäkinen, captain of Finland: “Preparation for the match today was not as good as it was for the previous ones, but it is no excuse. Our performance was still bad. I mean we cannot play like this at this level. Some players played well today, but on average our game was on a low level.”