Labrador and Tatic bring back gold
President of Gibraltar Volleyball Association, Emma Labrador and head coach of volleyball in Gibraltar, Nenad Tatic brought home gold from Alhaurin De la Torre in what was possibly the toughest tournament they have faced so far.
“Every match was a super tight match, right from the group stages, all the way to the final where we lost the first set and had to fight to take the second and an incredibly close set at 15-13 to take the gold”
Experience and confidence beat height, speed and power.
All teams were really skillful with plenty of experience behind then. The Gibraltar team came top of their group beating all three teams with scores of 21-16, 21-14 and 21-18. They qualified directly to the quarter finals where again they met a very strong team. They started the match losing but slowly closed the gap from behind to level the match and then take the win by 21-18 securing themselves a spot in the semi final. Patience and confidence being key elements in this partnership.
The semi final was another close match, where again the pair started down by 4 points but slowly and patiently they crept back and took the match at the end of the set by a very close 21-17.
The final proved to be extremely entertaining where Emma and Nenad took on the home team and favourites of the tournament. The final was to be played best of three sets. The first set was a comfortable 21-15 win for the home favourites, but our Gibraltar team gave as good as they got and came back winning the second set 21-17. The tie break, played up to 15 points, was largely tied throughout, however the Spanish team were up 13-10 and it seemed they had the match in the bag. The Gibraltarian duo never gave up and managed to come back fighting and on top where their experience, confidence and patience secured them the gold.