0Congratulations to Estonia for winning the gold in the FIVB World League Group 3 Finals! The 2016 CEV European League Champions won against Spain in 3 sets (25-22, 25-16, 25-21).
After their historical victory, head coach Gheorghe Cretu took time to acknowledge the people and the hard work they’ve done over the years.
“The path of this group started many years ago, with the generation of our captain (Kert Toobal). Many other guys laid the foundation of this new history of volleyball in Estonia. We’re proud to continue their work, as it was their will to be in this World League, face these great opponents and to keep growing. This is the work of a lot of people in Estonia and I’m sure many of them didn’t sleep tonight. I took this team together with my staff three years ago, we’re going step by step and I have to say it’s a present for all of us to be part of this Estonian family. We never feel alone. I want to tell them this result is for all of them.”
Team captain Kert Toobal also shared some words about his team and their journey.
“Our teamwork was the key. We played a clever game, using our heads and keeping the ball in play. We know our strength is the block and if we keep our serves inside, we can have a lot of positive actions there. We didn’t have to worry about our side-out as it usually works, so we did that and I couldn’t be happier now. In the third set we showed that strength in our heads – we knew that losing a few points didn’t mean that much. We stayed calm and ended up playing a nice game. This is a big day for Estonia volleyball.”
This victory may PUT Estonia in Group 2 in next year’s FIVB World League.
However, there’s an unconfirmed report that the FIVB plans to demolish the 3 Groups in the World League and may only do Group 1 next year with 16 teams which we’d reveal in a different post shortly.
What’s next for Estonia?
The team will compete in the 2017 European Championship in August. Estonia is in Pool A with Poland, Serbia and Finland.
Group 3 Final Standings
1st Estonia
2nd Spain
3rd Germany
4th Mexico
5th Austria
6th Tunisia
7th Montenegro
8th Qatar
9th Chinese Taipei
10th Venezuela
11th Kazakhstan
12th Greece
CONGRATS ESTONIA!!!
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