Cyprus Lead
The Hunt For Gold
NICOSIA, 5 June 2009 -
The Cyprus Men’s Volleyball Team took a big
stride towards winning the gold medal at the XIII Games
of the Small State of Europe after a hard-fought victory
over Andorra in Nicosia.
The
hosts struggled to break down a resilient Andorran side
and were thankful to take the maximum points as they
head into the last game against Iceland knowing that
victory over their Nordic opponents will give them the
gold medal.
Andorra
and Iceland are both on five points.
In the
event that Cyprus, Andorra and Iceland all finish on
equal points then the sets won by each team will be
taken into consideration.
Αndorra took the
first set 25-22 and they almost put Cyprus into deeper
waters when they surged into a 23-21 lead in the latter
stages of the second set. But Antonis Papadopoulos’ men
hit back to take the second set 25-23 but they again
fell behind to Andorra in the third set only to fight
back again late on to win the third set 25-19.
In the final set, Cyprus, who had
Vladimir Knezevic, Angelos Alexiou and Nikos Kolas in
fine form, upped their game to win 25-16 and the game.
Sets: 22-25, 25-23,25-19, 25-16.
CYPRUS: Eracleous (12
πόντοι), Alexiou (10), Kolas (10), Petrakidis (2),
Masias, Papachristodoulou (libero), Knezevic (23),
Apostolou (4), Michael (5), Pampakas (1), Chrysostomou
(1).
ANDORRA: Marco (16), Altayo (12), Borrego (10), Paux
(7), Garcia Hector (4), Garcia Javieri (libero), Olivera
(6), Sousa (1), Le Marechal.
In the other men’s
game, San Marino easily beat Luxembourg 3-0 to secure
their first win in the event. Luxembourg are bottom with
four defeats in as many games.
Sets: 25-17, 25-21,
25-22.
Saturday
will see the final round of the men’s volleyball event
with Andorra taking on San Marino at 12 :30 and Cyprus
take on Iceland (14:30).
ΑΚ/JL
