Day 5 – Women’s match reports

SLO v GBR

Slovenia on track for 5th place after sweep of Great Britain

Budapest, Hungary, 19 July 2019 – Slovenia remain undefeated at the top of the table of the 5-9 pool at the 2019 Sitting Volleyball European Championships after sweeping Great Britain 3-0 (25-9, 25-15, 25-13) to get Day 5 started at the competition here Friday morning.

A match high 13 points by Klara Vrabic plus 12 from Senta Jeler and 11 from captain Lena Gabršček got Slovenia going, as they served as many as 33 aces (to Great Britain’s 12).

Slovenia are now 2-0 at the top of the table (though Hungary and Croatia also remain undefeated). Great Britain remain winless after three matches in the 5-9 pool and seven matches overall in these European Championships.

CRO v FIN

Finland grab first win in women’s 5-9 pool

Budapest, Hungary, 19 July 2019 – Finland shut out Croatia 3-0 (27-25, 25-15, 25-17) as pool play for women’s positions 5-9 at the 2019 Sitting Volleyball European Championships here Friday morning.

Maria Viitala was again top scorer for Finland with a match high 14 points, as the Nordic side served 16 aces to Croatia’s 11 and also attacked much more efficiently.

It was Finland’s first win in the pool, bringing their record to 1-1, on par with Croatia who suffered their first loss in the 5-9 matches.

FIN v GBR

Finland grab another victory for 5-9, leave Great Britain winless

Budapest, Hungary, 19 July 2019 – Finland scored another victory in the race for 5th place in the 2019 Sitting Volleyball Women’s European Championship, 3-0 (25-16, 25-11, 25-8) over bottom of the table Great Britain in the 5-9 pool.

Once more it was Maria Viitala leading the scoring for Finland with a match high 9 points. The Finns served 23 aces, including six each from Hanna-Maria Sariluoto, Petra Pakarinen and Viitala.

This brings Great Britain’s campaign in the European Championships to a close, winless after a total of eight matches and ranked 9th overall.

CRO v HUN

Croatia outlast Hungary in race for 5th place

Budapest, Hungary, 19 July 2019 – Croatia twice led and were twice equalised before eventually getting the win 3-2 (25-21, 15-25, 25-17, 13-25, 15-10) over hosts Hungary in the continuing race for 5th place in the women’s 5-9 round-robin pool.

Captain Andreja Giba was again top scorer for Croatia with 14 points, though Hungary’s Barbara Nebehaj got the match high of 19.

It was Hungary’s first defeat in the 5-9 pool and the hosts now stand at 1-1, while Croatia go 2-1. Slovenia remain the only unbeaten team in the pool on 2-0.

RUS v UKR

Russia step up to to make fourth straight #EuroSittingVolley final

Budapest, Hungary, 19 July 2019 – Russia will be there to defend their title from 2017 when they meet Italy in Saturday’s final of the 2019 Sitting Volleyball European Championships, after totally overwhelming Ukraine 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-12) in Friday evening semifinal action here.

The match was almost a non-event, with Russia producing such brilliance on the court that left Ukraine struggling to find any way back in.

Two aces by Iuliia Mednikova either side of a kill from the middle by Ekaterina Okorokova for the last three points in the match brought it all home for Russia.

Mednikova was the top scorer of the game with 10 points – the only player across the board to go into double digits, though Okorokova was close behind on 9.

Russia served 12 aces to Ukraine’s 4 and attacked for a very solid 58% (32/55) – though they were outblocked by Ukraine 5 to 7.

While Russia will now be going for back-to-back titles tomorrow against Italy, Ukraine, silver medallists last time around, will have to settle for the bronze medal game against Germany.

ITA v GER

Ruthless Italy obliterate Germany for tickets to Euro final and Tokyo 2020

Budapest, Hungary, 19 July 2019 – Italy hammered Germany 3-0 (25-12, 25-9, 25-23) to make the women’s final of the 2019 Sitting Volleyball European Championships while at the same time earning a ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

The ticket to Tokyo 2020 was in combination with Russia’s win, just some minutes earlier over Ukraine in the other semifinal. With Russia already qualified to the Paralympic Games since last year on the basis of their ranking at the World Championships, Italy are assured to join them in Japan regardless of the result in the European Championships final here tomorrow.

With a lot of pressure from the service line, Italy immediately took control of the game and broke a way for a very quick early lead, which they continued to widen as the first set wore on, for a double-score finish.
Anyone expecting Germany to balance out the play was disappointed, as the Azzurre continued their relentless serving creating havoc in the German reception, while fully dominating on the net and pushing the Germans into a series of unforced errors. It was certainly double- (and actually almost triple-) score again in the second.

Italy did seem to tone it down a bit in the third and Germany got off to early lead. But at 11-16 Francesca Bosio, absolutely brilliant throughout the game, moved to the service line and delivered back-to-back aces to brig it all level at 16-16.

It was just a matter of keeping up for Italy from there on, and when it was all down to the wire at 23-23 in the third, Eva Ceccatelli served an ace and then set up Bosio for the final block that clinched the deal.

Bosio was awesome today, scoring 25 points and delivering 15 of Italy’s 25 aces, while libero @Silvia Biasi did an amazing job in reception and setting up the plays that led to Italy’s triumph.

It was the first defeat in this tournament for Germany, who now have to play for consolation bronze against Ukraine on Saturday.

SLO v HUN

Slovenia close in on 5th place with win over hosts Hungary

Budapest, Hungary, 19 July 2019 – Slovenia are within touching distance of 5th place at the 2019 Sitting Volleyball Women’s European Championships after their latest win, 3-0 (25-11, 25-23, 25-12) in the 5-9 pool.

This time it was Suzana Ocepek with 13 and captain Lena Gabrscek with 12 that brought in the points for Slovenia, who served 23 aces – 8 by Danica Gosna alone who only came on off the bench in the third set.

The win leaves Slovenia undefeated at the top of the pool standings on a 3-0 record, but they can only confirm the 5th place on Saturday, when the last matches will be played.