No more questions left in EuroVolley eight-finals, however one of the answers might be considered as totally unexpected. On Monday, Slovenia and Czech Republic secured the two remaining spots in the last eight, joining Poland, Russia, the Netherlands, Serbia, Italy and Germany, who qualified to quarterfinals in previous days. Czech Republic, who caused the biggest sensation by eliminating in eight-finals the Olympic champion France, will face Slovenia in the quarter-finals on Wednesday in Ostrava.
Slovenia vs Croatia 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 19-25, 25-12)
The silver medalists from 2019, Slovenia was a favourite of this encounter, but Croatia set a bar high, fighting hard with their neighbour. But performance in the block and reception made a significant difference in the first two parts. Then, Croatia bounced back, headed by Leo Andri?, who enjoyed an unbelievable run in the third set scoring spectacular 14 points – including 7 aces! But this powered Slovenia, who at express pace won the fourth set to progress to quarterfinals.
Croatia’s Leo Andri? was a top scorer of the match with 21 points (including 9 aces), on Slovenian side Klemen Cebulj scored 13 points, once Jan Kozamernik (4 stuffs) and Alen Pajenk (3) were top blockers.
“It was a tough match, we knew that Croatia would come as hard as possible. You could see this in the beginning of the game. Then we started to play better, beated their blocks and improved our defence. In the third set they had a good serve when they scored five aces in a row. Fortunately for us we came back even stronger and brought home this victory.”
Alen Pajenk
middle blocker of Slovenia
Slovenia continue their tradition of winning selfies
France vs Czech Republic 0-3 (22-25, 19-25, 32-34)
The biggest sensation of EuroVolley came in the last eight-final in Ostrava. The hosts in spectacular way eliminated the Olympic champion France, defeating them in straight sets. The Czechs entered the court fully motivated and showing no fear to the Olympic champions they started their march for victory. The third part was an absolute thriller. First France got double set point leading 24-22, but the host, vividly encouraged by their fans, denied both to eventually close the match with their 9th match point!
Jean Patry of France scored match-high 20 points, but it was Jan Hadrava to be a hero of the night with 18 points to his name (15 kills, 2 blocks and 1 ace). Czech Republic showed great team efforts in block winning in this element 9-3 with the Olympic champions.
“After match like this I could probably talk a lot but I will be brief today. Although we won and performed great but that’s how it ends. We all know what happened after we defeated Slovenia and this mustn’t be repeated under any circumstances. We have to prepare ourselves for the next game and fight for every ball. We will see what the result will be.”
Jiri Novak
head coach of Czech Republic
