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The Czech Republic faced Montenegro in a key match in terms of promotion from the Group B. After an outstanding first set from both sides Czech players won in front of their fans 3:0 (30:28, 25:23, 25:10).

Both teams entered the game knowing how important every point in the table is. It was Montenegro who started with a small lead (5:3). Czechia equalized then turned the score around (14:15). Veljko Basic, Montenegro’s coach), immediately took his time-out. The players fought for every single ball and it was quite balanced (23:23). Montenegro had an opportunity to finish the first part of the game when a challenge showed an overstep by one of the Czech players (24:23). However, they didn’t use it and after many great rallies the Czech republic won the dramatic first set with Galabov’s ace (28:30).

The scenario from the previous set repeated (5:5, 10:10, 12:12). Then Lukas Vasina’s two aces started a Czech escape. They created a huge six-point lead (14:20). It looked like the job was done, but it wasn’t. Montenegro went from 16:23 to 22:23 when they had several stunning blocks. Despite that, they lost this set. Their pressure was stopped by Jan Hadrava’s attack and later the Czechs finished the second set.

The start of the third set went exactly as planned for the Czech team. They grabbed four points lead during Galabov’s serve. Even though Montenegro played well, their opponent didn’t allow them to equalize (4:5). The score difference was still increasing as Montenegro started to make mistakes and Czech pressure was higher (8:15). Hadrava’s two aces in the end meant 14 match points for his team. They used the very first one and won the key match without losing a set (10:25).

Jiri Novak, Czech coach: “Ending of the first set was so important. We were good in attack however we need more points from defence. That is why we were fighting for every point, fortunately we won. Thanks to that we handle the pressure well apart from the ending of the second set. Montenegro played that extraordinary. We tried to interrupt the game as much as possible with time-outs and substitutions. Third set was one-sided. We patiently waited for our chance and that was the key factor. We would definitely welcome if it came earlier but there are even such matches.”

Vojin Cacic, Montenegro outside spiker: “I think that suffix of the first set was the moment which decided today’s game. We didn’t use our set point which was important. It is hard, this happened before. I mean we play good game but fail in the ending. It is bad when we need to finish the set and we don’t. Congratulations to the Czech players, they played very well and I wish them best of luck in the round of sixteen.”