The 2015 WEVZA U19 Championship – Men held in Spanish city of Valladolid met the first three semifinalists of the competition that gathers the future stars of the sport in Western European countries. Spain, Italy and France remained undefeated and clinched the ticket for the next step to the title. Italian and French squads control the Pool A with two wins, and will fight together for the top position. In the pool B, Spaniards overcame Germany and ensured one place in the semifinals.
France came back from one set down to claim the second victory of the WEVZA Tournament against Switzerland by 1:3 (25-20, 20-25, 14-25, 22-25). The young swiss players produced an impressive first set to dominate the beginning of the match. Les Bleu countered in order to domain the rest of the game. France improved in all the stats: attack, block, serve so to tie the game. The third set was dominated entirely by the French side and the good level showed by France remained in the fourth period to ensure the triumph and a ticket for the semifinals.
“The first set was difficult for us. Switzerland didn’t make mistakes in first set. After that, the French team came back with more efficiency, good level in the net. I’m so happy with my team because we are qualified for semifinals. Tomorrow we will be play for the first place of the pool,” said Olivier Audabram, mentor of French Team
Italy clinched the second ticket for the semifinals and showed the credentials to fight for the title in Valladolid. Belgium played a very good match but was beaten in three sets by Italian squad (25-19, 25-15 y 25-18). An effective serve and block guided the Azzurri to the triumph against the brave Belgian players who tried everything to keep the ball in play. The distance between both teams in scoreboard expanded and Italy claimed the victory and a place in semifinals. On Friday Italy and France will fight for the first position of the pool A.
Mario Barbiero, coach of Italy said: “Today we played a very good match. We were very effective in serve. Belgium had played at a very good level and today it was a good match. Tomorrow we will fight for the first position. It´ll be a hard technical and mental match”.
“Italy was better than us. We have a lot of work to do before the World Championship. My players played well but the difference in level is very big,” explained Joel Banks, coach of Belgium.
The Netherlands crowned a good and tough match with its first victory in the tournament. The Dutch squad lost the first set against a very impressive Portuguese side. From the beginning of the clash Antonio Guerra´s pupils showed a lot of spirit to dominate the first set. The Netherlands tried to regain the good play, and recovered the lead of the match. The improvement of young Dutch players led them to tie the match. Victory was the goal for both teams but the performance of The Netherlands grew to highest levels 3:1 (25-27, 25-23, 25-14, 25-18)
Han Abbing, coach of The Netherlands said: “We were very nervious at the start of the match. We lost the set in the final points. Portugal has played a good level in different moments of the match, especially first and second set. But they made a lot of mistakes in the third and four set. Yesterday we played against Germany in a very a strong match but finally we lost the 5th set. Germany is the favourite team of the pool. Tomorrow we need a victory against Spain to get the semifinals”.
The last match of the day was a perfect summary of the thrilling WEVZA U19 Men Championship. Spain defeated Germany 3:1 (25-21, 19-25, 25-16, 25-22). The third set was fundamental in the match, and Spain enjoyed its performance. Good serve, unbreakable block and efficiency in attack led to the supremacy in the match. The host team reached the semifinals with this victory, the second in a row in the WEVZA U19 Men Championship.
Benjamín Vicedo, coach of Spain, said: “We had played a very good first set. We planned a tactical serve in order to prevent quick plays from Germany. Our block and defense worked well. Today we gave all we had and I am very happy for the victory ».
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