Sofia, Bulgaria, April 13, 2018. Great battles on the court and many emotions – this is what Day 1 in Pool II of the #EuroVolleyU17W brought. Germany, Turkey and Italy proved to be the stronger sides today in their respective matches, claiming 3-1 victories over The Netherlands, Ukraine and Romania respectively.
Germany vs. The Netherlands 3-1 (21-25, 25-18, 25-16, 25-17)
• Sina Stöckmann led Germany to a perfect start of their own campaign in the 2018 #EuroVolleyU17W. The German opposite hitter scored 19 points and helped her team defeat The Netherlands by 3-1 in the first match of Day 1 in Pool II in Sofia.
• The strongest weapon of the winners was their good performance from the service line.
• The players coached by Jens Tietböhl made a total of 14 aces and despite having lost the opening set by 21-25, they completed a great comeback, taking well-deserved three points from the match.
• For The Netherlands Iris Vos finished as the match top scorer with 17 points.
Jens Tietböhl, head coach of Germany: “We understood the really important components are serve and reception. We managed to be a little bit better in these two elements today and this is the main reason for our victory. We were really brave, showed great control, discipline and we played well in attack. Obviously I’m happy with our performance.”
Eelco Beijl, head coach of The Netherlands: “First of all congratulations to Germany. They made some changes during the game and were well organised in block and defence. They handled their attack well and deserved to win. I think we started well but when Germany changed their tactics, we were not able to react. This is just our first match here so we will fight in the next games.”
Turkey vs. Ukraine 3-1 (25-23, 26-24, 16-25, 27-25)
• Turkey claimed their first victory in Pool II against Ukraine by 3-1.
• Damla Tokman finished as top scorer for the winners with 14 points, but the player who impressed the most was the Turkish libero Gülce Güctekin. She did a great job in defense and reception.
• For Ukraine Kateryna Tkachenko finished the match with 14 points.
Bülent Gunes, head coach of Turkey: “I am not satisfied with the way we played but I’m happy because we won. It is difficult to get the job done on the first day of every tournament. The stress and the pressure are big. These are young girls and it’s normal for them to feel even more under pressure. Tomorrow we will try to improve our performance and to achieve another victory.”
Viktor Perebyynis, head coach of Ukraine: “The Turkish team is more experienced than us. We had our chances in all sets but we lost with really small differences, by only two points in almost each set. To me the key to the win for Turkey was precisely their experience. Good for them they knew how to use that advantage.”
Romania vs. Italy 1-3 (14-25, 25-22, 11-25, 19-25)
• Pool II favourites Italy claimed a resounding 3-1 win over Romania.
• Loveth Oghosasere Omoruyi and Alessia Bolzonetti were the star performers, scoring 17 and 14 points respectively to silence a small but raucous Romanian crowd, much to the delight of their coach Marco Mencarelli.
• For Romania Alexia Ioana Carutasu finished as top scorer with 19 points.
Marius Macarie, head coach of Romania: “Italy is a very, very strong team. They manage all aspects of the game and I think they are the biggest favourites for the title this year. Today in some moments we played good Volleyball, but our main problem was the reception and if you want to achieve something against such a strong team like Italy, you can’t attack from the third and fourth metre.”
Marco Mencarelli, head coach of Italy: “Today all matches were strange because all players were nervous on the first day of the tournament. We didn’t see good Volleyball but the most important thing is to start with a victory. We had a lot of ups and downs in our game but I’m happy we managed to win. Tomorrow I expect three things: first – no tension like today, second – better side-out from us and third – better block.”
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