Luxembourg, May 25, 2019.  Super Saturday brought pule-pounding excitement to the 2019 CEV Volleyball European Golden League Women. 8 teams played their opening matches today, hoping to make a strong start as they make their way through the pool play of the competition. Both the Czech Republic and Ukraine put up dominant displays as they sailed through their matches in three sets. Hungary gave a spirited comeback over France, while Spain used unmovable defence to stifle Finland.  The teams have their foot in the door, but the journey is just getting started.   The ultimate prize is to join Croatia in the Final Four come June.  Winners and runners-up of the European Golden League will then progress to the FIVB Challenger Cup, where they can hopefully earn a treasured spot to the 2020 FIVB Volleyball Nations League. Don't forget that Volleyball fans across the globe can follow the matches on the CEV's very own OTT platform EuroVolleyTV. 

Pool A 

Sweden vs. Czech Republic 0-3 (10-25, 14-25, 16-25)

•  The Czech Republic was successful in their blocking game, securing 13 points on the block alone compared to Sweden’s 7 points.
•  Michaela Mlejnkova of the Czech Republic scored most points for the day with 14.
•  MVP’s were Pavla Smidova for Czech Republic and Rebecka Lazic for Team Sweden.
•  Sweden had three players making their debut on the national team; Tyra Areskoug, Kirsten Van Leusen and Wilma Calmfors. They were missing their best player Isabelle Haak due to an injury.
•  This was also the debut match for the head coaches on both teams: Ioannis Athanasopoulos for the Czech Republic, and Ettore Guidetti for Sweden.

Anna Haak, player of Team Sweden: “The game went kind of back and forth for us. We had a tough start, it was our first game with our new coach, and we didn’t really know what to expect.  But we will take this loss with us and just play better and better in the games to come. We have a couple of days to recharge for Wednesday’s game against Ukraine and we will have to take with us the good and the bad and try to change the things that did not quite work for us today. We can do a lot better in our block and defence, and I have seen many things that we can improve from this game. The third set was a little bit more even and I think it was because we did not have anything to lose and we took some more risks and just hit the ball a little bit harder. We dared to do a little more I would say.”

Pavla Smidova, player of Team Czech Republic: “It was our first game with our new coach and we were all a bit nervous so I am just happy for the team and for the coach that we got away with a win. Our new coach has been great for us. He is Greek so he brings a lot of energy to the team - which is good for us. We are a pretty happy and smiling team and I think it was our attitude on the court that won us the game today. We are relaxed and can just smile and do things better and better throughout the game. We made some mistakes but that is ok because we won and I think that it was an important win for us with the games ahead. Our blocking was for sure a part of our win today. I think we had a good tactic and knew about our opponents so I think that helped us a lot today as well. We were well prepared and did what we had to do. This is our first game and we will just be better and better. We cannot make as many mistakes in the serve as we did today. When we play a game like this and lead with ten points, it might be ok but in more even games, it will be so much more difficult for us if we keep making service mistakes.”

Ukraine vs. Slovakia 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-17)

•  Despite the absence of many of their star players, Ukraine easily claimed a 3-0 victory in their home match with Slovakia.
•  Svitlana Dorsman and Anna Stepaniuk top scored for the home side with 15 and 13 points, respectively. One of the latest additions to the roster, Oleksandra Bytsenko, did perform well too, putting eight points to her name.
•  Slovakia could keep the pace of the hosts in the second set only. However, Dorsman and Diana Karpets scored some blocks to secure a Ukrainian win and from there onwards, the hosts did not have any troubles anymore.
•  Karin Sunderlikova top scored for Slovakia in their losing effort with 12 points.

Pool B

Hungary vs. France 3-1 (23-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-19)

•  France won the first set, but afterwards Hungary was able to rally and turn things around to defeat the French in the next three consecutive sets.
•  After the second set, Jan De Brandt, head coach of Hungary, changed the lineup of almost the entire team in an effort to shake things up on the court.
•  The best scorer of Team Hungary was Gréta Szakmáry (16 points). The best scorer for Team France was Héléna Cazaute (19 points).
•  The MVP of the match was Gréta Szakmáry, who was born in Nyíregyháza and turned into the home town hero to the pure delight of the local fans.

Zsanett Miklai, player of Team Hungary: “The beginning of the match was a little difficult for us, we were a bit anxious to prove that we would be able to win the match. We were able to win with  great teamwork.”

Jan De Brandt, head coach of Team Hungary: “I am very happy, everybody played with energy. It is very good that we were able to start with a victory, especially since everybody struggled.”

Emile Rousseaux, head coach of France: “I had some expectations before the match but I saw different good things for example in the first set. I would like to build a great atmosphere in the team.”

Pool C

Finland vs. Spain 1-3 (17-25, 20-25, 25-21, 20-25)

•   This was the first match between Finland and Spain in ten years - the last time the two teams faced each other was back in 2009.
•   The best scorer of Team Finland was Piia Korhonen (14 points), while the best scorer of Team Spain was Ana Escamilla (24 points).
•   Since 2016, Team Finland has won an impressive 11 national team matches at home, while only having an astonishing three losses when playing for their home crowd.

Laura Pihlajamäki, captain of Team Finland: “Spain was very good in defence. Throughout we had difficulties scoring a point past them - they picked up all the balls. Our serve was not strong enough today. That is the most important thing to improve before the next match against Belarus.”

Tapio Kangasniemi, head coach of Team Finland: “This was quite a difficult day for us, especially when watching the scoreboard. But overall this was a very entertaining match. Today our weak periods were at the end of the sets. This kind of match is the best for us to learn and develop our game.”

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