At the meeting there were representatives from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. On the agenda were the future topics of the organisation and the upcoming competitions. The countries put emphasis on that the U19 and U17 competitions continuingly should should get the same priority in the member countries in the future, and it was agreed upon to continuingly use the same competition format as so far, because these competitions have improved the youth level in the different member countries. Amongst other, Denmark thanked the Faroe Islands for a very well organized competition on a high level when the Faroes hosted the NEVZA U19 competition for the first time in November of 2011.

Also the NEVZA Club Championship was discussed a lot. The competition has grown and there are possibilities that it will grow even more in the future.

NEVZA president Magnus Tausen of the Faroe Islands appreciated the large member participation and the rewarding outcome of the meeting, and thanked for a fine meeting.

After the meeting, a guided sightseeing tour in Tórshavn’s old town was organized, and on the picture, the participants are standing in front of the government building at Tinganes.

The final round of the 2011/2012 NEVZA Club Championships was held last week from 26 to 29 January.

Women’s competition – played in Stod outside Trondheim in Norway

Two teams from Norway and two from Denmark had qualified for the final round of the championships that turned out to be extremely close and where nothing had been decided going into the 3rd and final day of the competition.

In the end, Oslo Volley pipped their Norwegian compatriots Stod Volley for the title with a better set score, with both teams level on 5 points.

But Oslo Volley had opened their campaign with a 2-3 loss to Denmark’s Holte VK on the first day of competition. However, the next day Oslo Volley surged back to beat Stod Volley 3-1 and emphatically beat Brøndby in the decisive game on Sunday to claim the gold medal.

Stod Volley secured runners up position by beating Holte VK in the last match of the competition.

The bronze went to Holte IF with the same number of points as Brøndby, but with a superior set score.

Results:

Day 1 – 27 January:
Oslo Volley  – Holte IF 2-3
Stod Volley – Brøndby VK 3-1

Day 2 – 28 January:
Holte IF – Brøndby VK 2-3
Stod Volley – Oslo Volley 1-3

Day 3 – 29 January:
Brøndby VK – Oslo Volley 0-3
Stod Volley – Holte IF 3-1

Final standing:
No. 1: Oslo Volley  (NOR)  5 points (set score  +4)
No. 2: Stod  Volley (NOR)  5 points (set score  +2)
No. 3: Holte IF (DEN)  4 points (set score  -2)
No. 4: Brøndby VK (DEN)  4 points (set score -4)

================================================================

Men’s competition – played in Gentofte, Denmark:

Having surrendered the title to Norwegian team Førde Volleyballklubb a year ago, Danish club Marienlyst Odense are back at the top of Nordic volleyball; securing their 3rd NEVZA Club Championship title in 4 years.

But Marienlyst was pushed all the way and only narrowly beat eventual runners-up from Norway, Nyborg VBK, by 3-2 on the opening day – clinching the tiebreaker 15-12.

With victories for both clubs on day 2 and a 3-0 win for Nyborg on day 3, Marienlyst had to beat Gentofte Volley in the last match of the competition to claim the title. If Marienlyst were to lose, then both Gentofte and Nyborg could win the title, depending on the set score.

However, Marienlyst prevailed, winning the decider 3-2 with 15-10 in the tiebreak to wrap up the title.

Results:

Day 1 – 26 January:
Gentofte Volley – Middelfart VK 3-0
Nyborg VBK – Marienlyst Odense 2-3

Day 2 – 27 January:
Gentofte Volley – Nyborg VBK 2-3
Marienlyst Odense – Middelfart VK 3-1

Day 3 – 28 January:
Middelfart VK – Nyborg VBK 0-3
Gentofte Volley – Marienlyst Odense 2-3

Final standing:
No. 1: Marienlyst Odense (DEN) 6 points (set score+4)
No. 2: Nyborg VBK (NOR)  5 points (set score  +3)
No. 3: Gentofte Volley (DEN)  4 points (set score  +1)
No. 4: Middelfart VK (DEN)  3 points (set score -8)

The men’s final will take place in Gentofte, Denmark, 26-28 January and the women’s final takes place in Stod outside Trondheim in Norway 27-29 January.

The men’s team qualified for the final round are: Middelfart (DEN), Marienlyst (DEN),
Gentofte (DEN), Nyborg (NOR).

The women’s team qualified for the final round are: Holte (DEN), Oslo Volley (NOR), Stod Volley (NOR), Bröndby (DEN).

Girls’ competition:

The Danish girls secured their gold medal with an emphatic 3-0 win over the hosts from the Faroe Islands in the final. Only in the third set did the Faroese team put up any real resistance by taking a 17-15 lead. However, the Danes fought back and won the set 25-22.

Denmark: Winner of 2011 NEVZA U19 Championships

Denmark had won all of their matches in the preliminary phase, but had met strong resistance from both Norway and the Faroe Islands. Norway were two sets up, but Denmark came back strong to claim a 3-2 win with 15-10 in the tie-break. Also the Faroes had pushed Denmark all the way in the preliminaries and led 21-18 in both of the first sets, but couldn’t hold their nerves when it mattered and lost the match 3-1.

As Norway and the Faroe Islands had both beaten Iceland, it would be the winner of their head-to-head match on Friday evening that would decide who would qualify for the final against Denmark. Norway romped to a 2-0 lead, but the Faroes won the next two sets to take the match to a tie-break. After 14-14, the lead changed hands several times until the Faroe Islands finally prevailed with a 21-19 win to seal their place in their first ever NEVZA final.

But as mentioned above, Denmark deservedly clinched the title with a comfortable 3-0 win in the final.

Norway seemed to suffer from aftershocks when they met Iceland in the match for the bronze medal, because although Norway had beaten the Icelandic girls 3-1 in the preliminary phase, it was Iceland who won the bronze medals with a 3-1 win.

All of the results from the 2011 NEVZA U19 Championships for girls:

Thursday 10 Nov. Iceland-Norway 1-3 (19-25, 21-25, 25-20, 17-25)
Thursday 10 Nov. Denmark-Norway 3-2 (21-25, 22-25, 25-15, 25-20, 15-10)
Thursday 10 Nov. Iceland-Faroe Islands 0-3 (14-25, 20-25, 16-25)

Friday 11 Nov.  Denmark-Faroe Islands 3-1 (25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 25-17)
Friday 11 Nov.  Iceland-Denmark 1-3 (14-25, 21-25, 25-23, 20-25)
Friday 11 Nov.  Norway-Faroe Islands 2-3 (25-18, 25-23, 21-25, 23-25, 19-21)

Satuday 12 Nov. 3rd place: Norway-Iceland 1-3 (22-25, 26-24, 22-25, 22-25)
Satuday 12 Nov. Final: Denmark-Faroe Islands 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-22)

Final standing:

1. Denmark

2. Faroe Islands

3. Iceland

4. Norway

================================================================

Boys’ competition:

Denmark also captured the boys’ title after a comfortable 3-0 win in the final over Norway who couldn’t provide the same resistance as they did in the preliminary stage where Norway had taken a 2-0 lead before Denmark staged the comeback to win 3-2.

Denmark: Winner of 2011 NEVZA U19 Championships

The bronze medal match was an encounter between the Faroe Islands and Iceland which the Faroes won 3-1 to claim their first ever medal in the NEVZA competition in the boys’ division.

All of the results from the 2011 NEVZA U19 Championships for boys:

Thursday 10 Nov. Iceland-Norway 0-3 (12-25, 10-25, 13-25)
Thursday 10 Nov. Denmark-Norway 3-2 (21-25, 22-25, 25-14, 25-22, 15-11)
Thursday 10 Nov. Iceland-Faroe Islands 0-3 (24-26, 18-25, 10-25)

Friday 11 Nov. Denmark-Faroe Islands 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-17)
Friday 11 Nov. Iceland-Denmark 0-3 (15-25, 13-25, 11-25)
Friday 11 Nov. Norway-Faroe Islands 3-0 (25-14,    25-20, 25-19)

Satuday 12 Nov. 3rd place: Iceland-Faroes 1-3 (15-25, 25-19, 22-25, 16-25)
Satuday 12 Nov.    Final: Denmark-Norway 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-23)

Final Standing:

1. Denmark

2. Norway

3. Faroe Islands

4. Iceland

———————————————————————————————————–

After the competition, an All Star team was selected:

Girls:
Best setter: Eina Kalsø (FER)
Best spiker: Trine Noer Kjelstrup (DEN)
Best blocker: Oda Ulveseth (NOR)
Best libero: Susanna Salanto (NOR)
Most Valuable Player: Trine Noer Kjelstrup (DEN)

Boys:
Best setter: Mikkel Møller Andersen (DEN)
Best spiker: Andreas Takvam (NOR)
Besti blocker: Sigurd Neltoft Varming (DEN)
Besti libero: Michael Alfredsen (NOR)
Most Valuable Player: Sigurd Neltoft Varming (DEN)

Download the November bulletin here! (PDF)

Only teams from Denmark and Norway advanced to the final round in both the men’s and women’s competition.

The final standings were these:

Men in Iceland:
1 Middelfart (DEN)       2 6-0 4 p
2 HK (ISL)                        2 3-4 3 p
3 ÍF Fuglafjørður (FER) 2 1-6 2 p

Men in Linköping, Sweden
1 Marienlyst (DEN) 2 5-4 3 p
2 Linköping  (SWE) 2 5-5 3 p
3 Förde         (NOR) 2 4-5 3 p

Men in Falkenberg, Sweden
1 Gentofte      (DEN)  2 5-4 3 p
2 Falkenberg   (SWE) 2 4-4 3 p
3 Randaberg   (NOR) 2 4-5 3 p

Men in Bergen, Norway
1 Nyborg        (NOR) 3 8-4 5 p
2 Örkelljunga (SWE) 3 7-4 5 p
3 Hvidovre     (DEN)  3 6-8 4 p
4 Koll               (NOR) 3 3-9 4 p

The group winners qualify for the final round to be played during the last weekend of January 2012.

=============================================================================

Women in Holte, Denmark
1 Holte                     (DEN)  3 9-1 6 p
2 Oslo Volley          (NOR)  3 6-5 5 p
3 Fortuna Odense (DEN)  3 6-7 4 p
4 Polonia                 (ENG)  3 1-9 3 p

Women in Vordingborg, Denmark
1 Stod Volley   (NOR) 3 9-4 6 p
2 Bröndby        (DEN)  3 8-5  5 p
3 Lindesberg    (SWE) 3 5-6  4 p
4 Vordingborg  (DEN)   3 1-9  3 p

No. 1 and 2 from both groups qualify for the final round to be played during the last weekend of January 2012.

Download the October bulletin here! (PDF)

Please download the PDF file with the official invitation here!