25/09/2011 19:23
Germany pave the way for the second round
2011 CEV Volleyball European Championship - Women
Belgrade, Serbia, September 25, 2011. After yesterday’s win over Ukraine, Germany added another hard-fought straight-set victory versus France 25-18, 25-23, 25-18 to improve their record to 2-0. On the other hand, the French ladies will have to use their last chance tomorrow against Ukraine to keep their hopes alive for a second round qualification.
Best player of the match was Margareta Kozuch with 22 points. Helene Schleck booked 11 kills for France.
France confirmed yesterday’s strong performance versus Serbia in the beginning of the first set. After 15 minutes of play, “les bleus” were 13-11 ahead, giving the Germans a hard time. Especially at the net the team of head coach Fabrice Vial was impressive, while the German spikers couldn’t find a way to overcome the French block-defense system. However, three consecutive points from 14-16 to 17-16 gave Germany their first lead in set No. 1.
The German ladies kept the momentum with Margareta Kozuch on fire. Two mistakes from Veronika Hudima eventually offered Germany the first set. France didn’t give up in the second set. As yesterday versus Serbia, the French power ladies showed spectacular rallies, both at the net and in defense. Nevertheless, a 21-15 lead was again not enough to conclude. Anne Matthes served six times in a row to bring Germany back level at 21-21. France led again 23-21, but once more lacked of experience to finish the set. Maren Brinker found a small space in the French defense to closed the second set out, 25-23.
This was too much for the hopeless French players. A strong phase of play was always followed by three-four consecutive mistakes. Even when Germany didn’t play at their best, it was enough to overcome their opponents in the third and last set. After 88 minutes of play, Kozuch hammered the Mikasa down to give Germany their second 3-0 win in Pool A in Belgrade.
Germany head coach Giovanni Guidetti: “Congratulations to the coach of the French team, because I think he has done a great job, preparing the team very well. France played like one team, they are compact, and we did have some difficulties. We were lucky tonight and I’m very happy, to win this kind of match is an absolute luck. Tomorrow we will play against Serbia and they play hard, so I hope we will do our best.”
Germany captain Margareta Anna Kozuch: “Congratulations to the French team; even though they didn’t win, they gave everything they had and that’s what made this match very difficult. We had to show everything we know and everything we can through the entire match, it was a bit challenging for us to play like that. I’m very proud of my team, especially during the second set, when we fought hard. We built our game step by step and the result is that we won today.”
France head coach Vial Fabrice: “Congratulations to the German team. I would like to say that there is no any possibility to win a match with lot of mistakes and we couldn’t find a solution for their way of playing. At the end of the first set, we had troubles to finish it and it is possible that that moment decided who will win tonight. At the end, we still have the last match tomorrow, so we will see what we can do.”
France captain Anna Rybaczewski: “Congratulations to Germany for this victory. I’m very sad, I think all the team is sad, because we played well at the beginning, but later on many mistakes were made and that had a big effect on us. Our defense wasn’t very good tonight. Tomorrow is our last chance to make it to the second stage, so I hope we will play better.”
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