Volleyball EuroChamps: Estonia opens with loss to Serbia
Estonia's men's volleyball team lost 1:3 to Serbia in its opening match of the European Championship final tournament in Tampere. The next match is Sunday against Denmark.
On Friday, September 11, Estonia's men's volleyball national team played its first match of the European Championship final tournament in the Finnish city of Tampere. In a Group C contest, the Estonians lost to Serbia 1:3 (23:25, 24:26, 28:26, 22:25).
Estonia put up a real fight in the first two sets, but the class of the three-time European champions eventually told. In the third set, the Estonian side finally managed to prevail on their fourth set point, while in the fourth set Serbia played more confidently and secured the overall match win.
Serbia's team is coached by Romanian Gheorghe Cretu, who served as Estonia's head coach from 2014 to 2019.
Other group results
In other first-round Group C matches, Finland defeated Denmark 3:0, while Belgium beat the Netherlands 3:1.
The team led by Alar Rikberg faces a difficult task in reaching the playoffs. To advance from the group, Estonia must finish among the top four teams, meaning it needs to outperform at least two rivals.
Estonia's next match will be played on Sunday, September 13, against Denmark.
This is Estonia's eighth appearance in the European Championship final tournament, and the team has advanced from the group stage to the round of 16 only twice in its history — most recently 11 years ago, in 2015.
