Italy, Serbia, Slovakia and Russia are the teams qualified directly for the quarterfinals of the EuroVolley 2011 which are scheduled for Thursday.
Slovakia downed 2009 European champion Poland in Prague while the winners of the 2011 FIVB World League did not show any mercy for the hosts of the Czech Republic. In the Playoffs that are coming up on Wednesday the Czechs will play Poland while Bulgaria testes out the likes of Estonia that surprisingly eliminated Portugal from the competition with a 3:0 win this afternoon in Karlovy Vary.
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Serbia ultimately topped the standings of Pool A to advance to the quarterfinals while Slovenia and Turkey clipped two tickets for the Playoffs coming up on Wednesday and play there Finland and France respectively. After claiming two sets of its last game in the prelims, Italy had already confirmed its leadership in Pool C and the 2:3 defeat to France did finally not have any influence in the final standings of this group.
Pool A
Serbia stays unbeaten in Pool A by impressively defeating Austria in straight sets in 69 minutes and advances directly to the quarterfinals of the EuroVolley 2011. Slovenia nearly gave away a 2:0 lead against Turkey this afternoon to finish off its campaign in Pool A in second place after a hard-fought 3:2 win.
Pool B
The winners of the 2011 FIVB World League literally outclassed the Czech national team in all fundamentals. The final score sent Russia directly to the quarterfinals, while the home guys will re-start their campaign on Wednesday in the Playoffs by playing against Poland.
Estonia – quite surprisingly – downed Portugal in straight sets and with this result historically qualified for the next phase of the EuroVolley. Estonia had joined the final round of the European Championship for the first time two years ago in Turkey but there the guys in blue jerseys had failed to make it through the prelims.
Pool C
The Finns certainly thought that they wanted to fulfill the saying “he who laughs best that laughs last” as they went for their last game of the prelims in Pool C after losing to Italy and France in the past couple of days. And Finland finally beat Belgium in straight sets to qualify for the next phase of the EuroVolley 2011. The final match in the “Olympiahalle Innsbruck” brought the first tie-break in Pool C; France fought back from two sets down to defeat Italy and hence claimed the second place in the final standings of the group.
Pool D
Slovakia continued its splendid campaign by claiming a third consecutive win in “iron” Pool D, this time by seeing off the 2009 European champions from Poland. With this result Slovakia – winner of the 2011 European League – finishes the prelims on top of the standings and thus advances directly to the quarterfinals scheduled for Thursday in Karlovy Vary. Germany is out of contention for a spot in the next phase of the EuroVolley 2011 after losing three consecutive game.
source: CEV