Real Club Cajasur Priego TM booked their place in the Europe Cup Men semifinals after a dramatic quarterfinal decided by a golden match against HB Ostrov z.s.
The Spanish side carried a 3-1 advantage from the opening leg at home, but the return encounter in Czechia saw Ostrov fight back strongly to level the tie and force a golden match decider.
HB Ostrov opened the second leg with a convincing win as Vladislav URSU defeated Diogo CARVALHO in straight games. Robert GARDOS responded for the visitors, edging Jiri VRABLIK in a tense five-game duel to keep Cajasur in contention. The hosts regained control through Pavel SIRUCEK, who overcame Carlos MACHADO 3-0, before URSU struck again, narrowly beating GARDOS to secure a 3-1 victory in the leg and push the quarterfinal into a golden match.
With everything at stake, Cajasur showed composure in the decider. Robert GARDOS gave the Spanish club the lead with a single-game win over SIRUCEK, and Diogo CARVALHO sealed qualification by edging URSU in a dramatic extended game.
We are very happy to reach the semifinal. It was a very tough and difficult match against a very strong team. In Priego we made an important step, but here we still had work to do. We were playing in unfamiliar conditions, different from what we are used to at home, so we really had to fight. It was not our best performance, but we kept pushing and gave everything. In the end I believe we deserved to qualify. When we were 2-1 down, I was leading 2-0 and 8-4 against URSU, later also 9-6 and 9-7. In the deciding game it was 5-5, so it could have gone either way. Still, I think we created more chances to close out the match than our opponents. The key was that we never gave up. We kept fighting until the end, and that determination allowed us to win and secure our place in the semifinal,”explained GARDOS.
Second leg
HB Ostrov z.s. – Real Club Cajasur Priego TM 3-1
- Vladislav URSU – Diogo CARVALHO 3-0 (14-12, 11-7, 11-6)
- Jiri VRABLIK – Robert GARDOS 2-3 (11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 7-11, 3-6)
- Pavel SIRUCEK – Carlos MACHADO 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-7)
- Vladislav URSU – Robert GARDOS 3-2 (5-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7, 6-5)
Golden match
HB Ostrov z.s. – Real Club Cajasur Priego TM 0-2
- Pavel SIRUCEK – Robert GARDOS 0-1 (9-11)
- Vladislav URSU – Diogo CARVALHO 0-1 (12-14)
Opening leg
Real Club Cajasur Priego TM – HB Ostrov z.s. 3-1
- Robert GARDOS – Tomas TREGLER 3-1 (9-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-5)
- Diogo CARVALHO – Vladislav URSU 0-3 (9-11, 6-11, 10-12)
- Carlos MACHADO – Pavel SIRUCEK 3-1 (11-7, 5-11, 11-6, 11-6)
- Robert GARDOS – Vladislav URSU 3-2 (11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 4-11, 6-3)
