PREOLIMPICO EUROPEO 2012 **ITALIA CLASIFICA A LONDRES**

Sofia, Bulgaria, May 12, 2012. Italy vs. Germany has been set as tomorrow’s final of the 2012 Olympic Games - European Qualification for men in Bulgaria. With an incredible performance by German opposite György Grozer the team of head coach Vital Heynen achieved a sensational victory over heavy favorites Bulgaria by 3:1 (25-22, 20-25, 25-22, 25-16) in the second semifinal in a packed Arena Armeec hall. The President of Bulgaria Rosen Plevneliev and the Prime Minister Boyko Borisov were among the thousands of Bulgarian fans that watched an interesting battle, but ended up disappointed by their team’s broken Olympic hopes.

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Germany played a fantastic first set. Some powerful serving, especially by György Grozer, gave the Bulgarian reception a lot of hard time and, whenever the home team was able to organize its attack, the German defense was there to dig out even the toughest balls. This way Vital Heynen's side ran away to a 7-point lead at 16-9. Although with the help of Matey Kaziyski’s strong serves Bulgaria narrowed the gap down to 12-16, its block was not able to stop Grozer’s spikes and the Germans reestablished their advantage at 20-13. A superb performance in offense, serving and defense by young talent Nikolay Penchev, who came in as a sub, once again helped the home team almost catch up at 19-21, but Germany held on to its lead and closed the set at 25-22.

Kaziyski’s technique completely outclassed the German block in the second set. Bulgaria rushed to an 8-4 lead, but then made too many serving errors. Combined with Denis Kaliberda’s contribution in offense, it allowed Germany to flip the score in its own favor to 16-14 at the second technical time-out. Inspired by the crowd, the Lions quickly recovered. Penchev’s performance in reception and serving was more than impressive while Kaziyski and Vladimir Nikolov continued to pressure the opponent with their spikes to lead Bulgaria to a final 25-20 in the set.

Kaziyski’s fabulous performance in offense and also from the serving line continued into the third set and helped Bulgaria recover from an early German lead and gain a comfortable advantage at 18-14. But then it was time for Grozer to serve and for Bulgaria to make too many mistakes. With 7 points in a row Germany took the lead by 21-18 and did not let go through the end – 25-22.

The story of the fourth set may be summoned in one sentence: György Grozer destroyed Bulgaria. An out-of-this-world performance by the German opposite put an end to the home team’s hopes to make it to the Olympics from tomorrow’s final. A confused Bulgarian team could not find a way to cope with the situation while Grozer scored a total of 15 points (2 aces, 3 kill blocks and 10 in attack) in this set only for a final 25-16 that sent Germany to the direct battle for a ticket to London tomorrow.

To no one’s surprise, György Grozer became the top scorer of the match with an incredible tally of 30 points. Matey Kaziyski with 22 points was Bulgaria’s most prolific player, while captain Vladimir Nikolov added another 18. “Congratulations for Germany! They won one decisive and very tough game,” Nikolov stated after the match. ”They managed to handle the pressure and proved to be the better team on the court. We played approximately well, but we made one big mistake that cost us not only the third set, but also the whole game.” His German counterpart Björn Andrae was in the opposite mood: “I am very happy and proud of my team. We managed to win a great game in front of so many spectators here in Sofia. It was not easy, but we kept our concentration during the whole game and showed some very nice volleyball, even when we were behind in the score.”

“Our opponent deserved the victory. They showed high-class volleyball tonight, but in my opinion until the end of the third set, both teams had equal chance to win the game,” Radostin Stoytchev, head coach of Bulgaria, commented. ”The lack of experience in our team was the key to our loss. We failed in one rotation in the third set. In the next part of the game there was only one team on court and it was Germany.” “I want to thank all my players, who played very good volleyball against one of the best teams in Europe,” Germany’s head coach Vital Heynen said. ”I think we were also a little bit lucky tonight after winning the third set. There is one more game left and we will give our best to win it and qualify for the Olympics in our first try.”

Sofia, Bulgaria, May 13, 2012. Italy booked its ticket to London with a dramatic victory in the final of the 2012 Olympic Games - European Qualification for men in Bulgaria. Both teams in that final found out that earning a spot at the Games was no easy task as the Olympic ticket found its owner only after a five-set battle. Italy pleased its fans on the stands of Arena Armeec hall in Sofia as it eventually claimed victory over Germany by a final score of 3:2 (25-22, 26-24, 19-25, 22-25, 15-12). Despite home team Bulgaria’s absence from this final, the stands were packed with almost 9000 spectators, with CEV President André Meyer among them.

Live photo gallery of all matches is running in real time here

Germany seemed to have entered the match more concentrated than the opponent as it rushed into a 4-0 lead at the beginning of the first set. But this did not last very long. Gradually the Italians started to catch up and at 14-13 took over the scoreboard. Italy’s serving, attacking and blocking were all working better than those of Germany. With Alessandro Fei contributing 2 aces and 100% in offense his team won the set by 25-22.

The second set was far harder contested with frequent changes in the lead. Both teams improved their reception and, hence, their offense became way more productive. The first time the gap exceeded 2 points in this set was at 21-18 Germany’s way. The last was at 22-19. Italy stayed focused, came back and eventually closed the set at 26-24 with Fei blocking for the last point.

Germany greatly improved its performance in the third set and, once it was up 5-3 in the score, it never allowed Italy to get any closer behind. Setter Simon Tischer was doing a really good job organizing the German offense as György Grozer and Denis Kaliberda were spiking point after point. Two aces in a row by Jochen Schöps gave Germany the first set-point at 24-18. Two rallies later Grozer put an end to the set with a powerful blast for 25-19.

The fourth set was quite even through the first technical time-out. After that Germany took control on the court not without the help of the too many mistakes Italy made in this set. The players of Vital Heynen built up a 3-point lead and were able to maintain it through the end. Although Grozer was once again Germany’s top gun in this set, it was Kaliberda’s block-out that finished it off at 25-22.

Italy woke up for the beginning of the tie-break and rushed to an 8-3 lead at the side-switch. Shortly after that some great blocking efforts by Germany narrowed the gap down to 6-8 to stay in contention through the rest of the set. But Italy’s playmaker Dragan Travica stayed in control of the situation and eventually set the ball for that fantastic spike by Cristian Savani that closed the set at 15-12 and sealed the Olympic ticket for Mauro Berruto’s team.

György Grozer topped the best scorers’ chart of the match with another impressive total of 28 points. Ivan Zaytsev was the most prolific player for the winning team with 19 points with teammate Michal Lasko adding another 17.

“Congratulations for Italy! I think both teams made a very nice final today,” Germany’s captain Björn Andrae stated. ”Unfortunately for us, we did not start as well as we expected, but I am happy that we fought until the very end. To win a tie-break is always a little bit lucky, but Italy really deserved the victory. Our team will try to stay positive, work more and get our ticket to London next time.” His Belgian head-coach Vital Heynen added: ”People are saying that winning a tie-break is always a lottery, but in my opinion the tie-breaks are won by the better team on the court. The truth is that Italy were more prepared than us and deserved to win. It was a fantastic week for us and I am very proud of my team. I am looking forward to meeting Italy again, this time in the Olympics.”

“I think it was a very tough final,” Italian captain Cristian Savani commented. ”Our opponent also deserved to go to London, but in our sport the whole tournament is decided in one or two sets. We are extremely happy about our success and we are already thinking about the Olympics.” Head coach Mauro Berruto stated: “It is still difficult to think in this very special moment for us. I believe that the best two teams in Sofia met on court today and I am happy that we managed to start this game in the best possible way and to win the decisive tie-break later. We will use the extra time for our preparation and I hope we will be in our best shape in London.”