Leveled fight in Tricity, defeat in Warsaw

Group A opened Lotto Eurovolley 2017 in Poland on Thursday night. The opening game of the group took place in Ergo Arena in Tricity. In this game Finland played against Estonia. Three hours later, the official opening started in Warsaw, where Poland hosted Serbia.

Finland – Estonia

Tricity welcomed Eurovolley 2017 in Ergo Arena, where 5000 fans from both countries gathered. The supporters created an unforgettable atmosphere at the arena already before the start of the game. As a result, both teams entered the field motivated and eager to win. Finland was a favorite in this game. Estonia on the other hand wanted to prove their right to be a part of European Championships.

Finland won the first two sets

Both teams played on a high level and their eagerness was visible throughout the whole game. First two sets belonged though to the team from Finland. They were visibly better in technical aspects of the game. As a result they dominated the first parts of the match winning the first set 25-21 and the second 25-22. Very good performance of Sauli Sinkkonen added to the advantage and the Finns left the field for a break in very good moods.

Estonian come back

The team from Estonia came back from the break motivated by their fans despite the bad result. Estonians didn’t begin the third set strongly, but they didn’t allow the opponents to get away by too many points. Their fighting spirit brought the result in the later part of the set, when they leveled the game. When 22:22 appeared on the scoreboard, both groups of fans created an amazing atmosphere. With help of their star – Robert Taht, who played a very good match, Estonians won the nervous battle 27:25. Estonian fans erupted with joyful shouts and continued to cheer their team throughout the next parts of the game.

The break-through broke down the spirits of the team from Finland. Estonians made a good use of that and they continued to gain the advantage. As a result, at one stage of the fourth set, they were leading with 6 points.

Finnish domination in the last set

The Finns dominated the last part of the game with experience and good team cooperation. The team from Finland got out visibly and finished the last set with a score 15:9.

The final result of the game was 3:2 (25:21, 25:22, 25:27, 22:25, 15:9) for Finland. Both teams played at a very high level and showed a lot of fighting spirit. This was definitely a match worth being the opening game of the championships.

Poland – Serbia

The official opening of Eurovolley 2017 was though yet to come. It took place in Warsaw at 8:30 pm. Poland hosted Serbia at the National Stadium.

Polish team started very well. From the beginning they were gaining points and they left for a technical break with 8:5 at the scoreboard. This was though the end of good news for the Polish fans gathered at the stadium. The Serbian team got back quickly and they started to dominate the game. The team from Serbia won the first set 25:22.

Domination continued

Polish players were trying hard to come back and to level the game. Despite their efforts, Serbians continued to dominate the game. The second set ended with the same score as the first one.

A beam of light for the Polish team came in the second part of the third set when the team started to fight back the points. They managed to come back from 11:16 to 15:17, but it was the end of their good path. Serbians won the third set 25:20 leaving the stadium in silence.

The final result of the game was 0:3 (22:25, 22:25, 20:25) for Serbia.This result definitely complicated the situation of the Polish team in the group. From now on they need to play without any mistake. Will they manage to do it facing motivated Finns and Estonians?

Upcoming games

All teams of Group A of Eurovolley 2017 are playing on Ergo Arena on Saturday. The first pair is Serbia – Estonia at 5:30 pm. After that, Poland faces Finland. The arena will fill with supporters during both games.