Zlín, Czech Republic, April 7, 2018. Czech Republic, Turkey and Germany set the tone in Pool I by winning on the first day of the 2018 CEV U18 Volleyball European Championship, each one mastering three-point wins over Greece, Belarus and Bulgaria, respectively.

Live streaming of all matches is available here.

Belarus vs. Turkey 1-3 (18-25, 23-25, 25-19, 22-25)

The opening match of Pool I featured Belarus and Turkey. Both teams had finished in the top 6 of the 2017 CEV U17 European Championship, where Turkey eventually claimed bronze on home soil. Turkey also controlled the endings of the first two sets in Zlín, but the game took a turn early in the third set, when the leader of team Belarus Uladzislau Davyskiba injured his ankle and left the court. This gave the Belarussians the well needed boost to win the set, it was not enough to win the game. 

After the match Hüseyin Düzceler, head coach of Turkey was at ease: "I am so, so happy for my team because of the good beginning of the tournament. I am proud of my whole team. It was a difficult match and I am so happy to win."

Captain of team Belarus Anton Sushynski also recalled the U17 European Championship a couple of months ago: "Some players of Turkey are new and we have never played with them. So for us this match was a little bit stressful."

Czech Republic vs. Greece 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-19)

The real volleyball party in Zlín started the moment team Czech Republic stepped on court, as fans had filled up the arena to see the local stars shine. The young players did exactly so by leaving no chance to their peers from Greece, although the Balkan nation passed through the 2nd round of qualifications undefeated. 

Stefanos Nanas, head coach of team Greece: "We came here with a lot of dreams and we came here to play volleyball, but today we did not do this. I will watch the game again, will discuss it with my partners, with the boys and I hope, we will be better in the next games."

His colleague from the Czech Republic Jiří Zach: "I am very satisfied with the level of concentration we showed in the whole match. After winning two sets, we kept the level of our game in the hard third part of the game. Greece is very tenacious, but we managed the match without difficulty."

Bulgaria vs. Germany 0-3 (17-25, 28-30, 18-25)

Although Germany managed to win in three straight sets, both teams showed their best efforts to keep the Mikasa off the ground. The second set proved the dedication from both sides as the result peaked at 30-28 with Germany being able to play it cool in the crucial moments.

Germany's coach Matus Kalny could be pleased after the match: "This was a very important victory at the beginning of the tournament. We won 3-0 and in the first set we played on our absolutely top level. We won today because of our defense, we did not make so many kill blocks, but we were able to pick every ball in the court and thus were able to make good counter attacks."

Plamen Hristov, coach from Bulgaria on the other hand was laconic: "We did not play good. We did not use our strengths. I hope we will do it better tomorrow. We will go day by day, game by game and aim for better ones."

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