The pre-European tournament opened tonight (Tuesday) with a loss of the Israeli team 3: 0 to Austria. Both teams opened with uncommitted mistakes in reality. But very quickly the level went up when from the Austrian side Alexander Berger stood out with four points in the opening.
Hershko and Sokolov from Israel’s side left the team in the picture and even raised it to a small 6: 9 advantage with successful landings. Israel maintained the small advantage also in the rest of the campaign and went up to 12:17, but the Austrians again with Berger passionately reduced to 19:21 Israel lost a battle point and the game reached a tie breaker. The Austrians, led by the huge Yukovich who rises to a height of 2.11 with decisive points, managed to win the battle 25:27.
The Austrians opened the second set well with a 1: 5 advantage. After a timeout by Israel national team coach Noam Katz, Israel managed to equalize to 6: 6 with excellent points from Ido David. Alexander Shapranovich during an acrobatics led Israel to a 7: 8 advantage in the campaign. The game continued to be close as Hershko continued to star in the Israeli uniform and left it in the picture. But the Austrians, mainly thanks to Kronetler in a good game near the net, went up to a 19:21 advantage, they kept the small advantage and won the battle 23:25.
The third campaign also began in the blitz of the Austrians much thanks to the successful opening blows of the morale of the Austrian team Alexander Tosh that raised them to a 3: 7 advantage. Non-committed mistakes Israel’s reality caused the Austrian advantage to grow to 13: 8. A good game by Ilya Goldrin and Bechkela helped the Israeli team reduce the difference to 17:16. But the experienced Austrians were able to maintain the advantage until the victory in the battle 20:25 and in the whole game 0: 3.
Coach of the Israeli national team Noam Katz He said at the end: “It was a disappointing loss, that’s exactly what I feared, in the first set we played great, but we spoiled ourselves with simple balls. The game might have looked different if we had taken the first set. After two years the team did not play, we went to the first set and lost two. “Points, our players lack the international experience to close the systems. We have to learn from these losses, but I am satisfied with the players. There is no doubt that Bulgaria is a level above Austria but you can always win, Israel’s volleyball needs these games to progress.”
