The Hungarian men’s volleyball team achieved a smooth victory over the visiting Georgian team in Budapest, in the fifth round of the qualifying series for the European Championship.
With two wins, three defeats and seven points, national team captain Robert Koch ended Sunday’s qualifying series with an away game against the Spaniards, in which the top four runners-up, along with the group leader, will qualify for the continental championship next fall. The tournament was organized by Italy, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Israel. The Hungarian team has a arithmetic chance just for this.
The Hungarian team started with a brave result against the Spaniards, then continued the series with a smooth victory over the Georgians, before losing twice to Slovaks last week.
This time, Koch changed his last starting lineup, which included Marcel Pisti, Jergy Rowland, Balint Tomanusi and Ken Cameron, who performed well as a substitute last Saturday and Victor Ban got a chance at the Libero position for the first time. in the series.
The Hungarians, enthusiastic about their first European Championship appearance since 2001 and who easily won 3-0 in Tbilisi, tried to assert their dominance at the start of the match and won six of the first eight balls. Gergy was replaced by Péter Blázsovics of Kazincbarcika, and the home team continually increased their advantage by outperforming their opponent in every element of the game. First of all, there was a huge difference in hampering efficiency in favor of the Hungarians, who won the inaugural title with ease.
In the first third of the second set, the visitors held their style better than before, but after some mistakes and a good opening sequence for Tomanouchi, the Hungarians pulled out with a 12-5 score. The game’s image did not change as it went on, and the home team gradually increased their advantage and achieved another partial, outperforming success.
The scenario seen earlier also remained for the third match: the home team, which opened better, attacked more accurately and blocked more effectively, kept the match under control throughout. Many Hungarians did well, and this proved to be more than enough for an easy victory similar to the one in Tbilisi.
The most successful players in the 79-minute match are Besti and Blazovic, with ten points, but Tomanusi and Horvath also have nine.
“It’s hard to maintain focus in games like this, we tried to practice certain tactical things, like blocking lines and opening effectiveness. The boys did whatever they had to do today, they played really well in front of the home crowd throughout the series, and every game is the next step in their development “. Robert Koch said after the meeting.
The captain of the national team revealed: Midfielder Daniel Jacques can no longer be relied upon due to injury, and Albar Szabo will not travel to the final in Spain, so it is expected that striker Zoltan Kovacs will play in his old position, because Tomanóczy will remain the only available position.
“We are preparing for the last match without any bets, because it is likely that only the first of this group will qualify, and we needed a miracle for that. According to the Slovaks, terrible conditions await us in Spain, a warm and not very good hall, but I want to play well at our level.The captain of the national team was looking forward.
In the evening match, the Spaniards won four games as a guest over Slovakia, thus taking the lead in the group and qualifying, while the Hungarian team remained with a calculating chance of winning second place.
The cover photo is an illustration.
