Ljubljana, Slovenia, July 6, 2019 – The hosts Slovenia triumphed 3-1 over Belarus, booking their spot in the 2019 FIVB Men’s Volleyball Challenger Cup in Ljubljana. On Sunday they face Cuba in the final battle in the quest for a spot in the 2020 FIVB Volleyball Nations League.
Tine Urnaut, captain of Slovenia: “Again our side-out was not at a good level. We lost too many points in a row, the opponent was serving very well, so it was difficult for us. Then, we started to play better and during the game we improved our serve and block, we rose the level of our game. We came here to play in the final and now we are expecting a tough match against Cuba. We will do everything to win.”
Alberto Giuliani, head coach of Slovenia: “Belarus played very well in the first and second set, especially in serve and attack. Miskevich was not on the court, but also their other spiker was very good. After the first set we performed much better on serve and in block and we managed to win this very important game for us.”
Siarhei Busel, player of Belarus: “We did not play with our full strength, some of our players were missing, during the match we lost Radzivon Miskevich as well. This was a big problem for us. In the first and second sets both teams were close, but later Slovenia were better. Tomorrow we will have another game to play, this time against Turkey. Turkey are a very good team, we will give our best and we will see what happens.”
Viktar Beksha, head coach of Belarus: "Miskevich has some problems with a knee, so I gave a chance to our young opposite. In the opening set we tried to play aggressively in serve and attack and that brought us a result. In my opinion the second set was the most important, we had a chance to win, but we didn't use it. We always play to win, no matter what result is on scoreboard, in every action we try to improve ourselves."