Eindhoven, Netherlands, September 27, 2015. The quest for the domination in Pool D of the 2015 CEV DELA Volleyball European Championship – Women intensified in the second day of competition as the teams clashing in Eindhoven aim at clinching victories to reach the playoff round and the quarterfinals. After their defeat in the opening day, Germany recovered their poise to beat Romania in four sets 3:1 (25-14, 24-26, 25-15, 25-19). Later in the afternoon, Serbia confirmed their sensational run thus far in the tournament with a convincing victory over the Czech Republic 3:0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-18).

Romania  vs Germany 1:3 (14-25, 26-24, 15-25, 19-25)

Germany achieved their first win in the tournament, after beating Romania 3-1. The teams that registered defeats in the first day of competition fought incessantly over points in a thrilling clash, with Germany ultimately getting the upper hand.

Germany put the pressure from the start and managed to use effective block tactics to exploit the deficiencies of Romania’s pass-up line, pushing the score through 6:2 to 8:3 leading into the first technical time-out. Romania failed to get into the game despite coach Guillermo Gallardo’s attempts to give more structure to the team with three substitutions. The German squad continued with a strong attack - led by captain Margareta Kozuch – as Germany triumphed finally taking the first set 25-14.

The German team showed concentration in the onset of the second period and went into the first technical time-out ahead 8:3, due to libero Lisa Thomsen's spectacular saves. However, through momentary lapses in the Germans’ concentration, the Romanian squad managed to collect three points, making the score 12:9. The Romanian side used this momentum and showed more courage, catapulting their team to a 16:15 lead. Directed by captain Adina Salaoru, Romania refused to throw the towel and forced a tie at the end of the period 23:23. Finally, it was Romania showing more resilience to win the set by 26-24.

The German ladies started the third period aggressively and scored points early on with their powerful attacks. With the score standing at 12:5, Germany once again began to lose focus. Romania took their chance and clawed their way up to 12:9. Although Guillermo Gallardo’s ladies visibly improved their blocking and court defences in the third set, they failed to convert this improvement into points, so to allow Germany to win the set 25-15.

At the start of the fourth set, Germany took a commanding lead with scores of 6:3 and 11:3. Excellent serves and successful break balls maintained the German control of the period, and despite Romanian attempts, the 2013 silver medallists stayed consistent, winning the set 25-19 and the match 3:1.



“Our attacking system was not very good today, but also because Romania raised their service game. We are happy about our first win, but we will play better tomorrow,” declared the coach of Germany Luciano Pedullà. Libero Lisa Thomsen added: “We had an important victory today. After some substitutions, we lost our momentum against Romania a bit. Tomorrow we will step up our game and give all we have against the Czechs.” 

“We played better than yesterday and we even had some big chances for more,” declared the coach of Romania Guillermo Gallardo. “We are happy with winning the second set. We knew we were in a very difficult group,” added outside spiker Ioana Nemtanu.

Czech Republic vs Serbia 0:3 (20-25, 23-25, 18-25)

The second match of the day at Pool D in Eindhoven between Serbia and the Czech Republic ended with a win in three sets for Serbia (25-20, 25-23, 25-18), in another demonstration of efficiency by the FIVB World Cup runners-up. 

Both sides started the game highly focussed and showed no weaknesses in side-out actions. As the first set progressed, neither squad was able to take a significant lead. Finally, with two aces by middle-blocker Milena Rasic, Serbia managed to take an 18:14 advantage in the scoreboard, a situation that the Czech ladies countered with strong performances by opposite Aneta Havlickova and captain Helena Havelkova. However, the Serbian team showed a powerful display, with captain Maja Ognjenovic allowing the Czechs to score only a few more points before closing the set 25-20.

The Czech team came into the second set even more focussed and achieved a starting lead (6:3). Nonetheless, by the first technical time-out Serbia pulled ahead 8:7. A back-and-forth battle developed then, in which Serbia emerged on top, getting a 17:15 advantage. Brankica Mihajlovic’s powerful spikes were too much for the Czechs, and with a 21:21 in the scoreboard the intensity of the period went sky high. Ultimately, Serbian blocking and attacks gave Zoran Terzic’s ladies the upper hand to close the period 25-23.

As the Czechs increased the power of their serve in the third set, a few minor mistakes in the Serbian setup put Carlo Parisi’s ladies in control 12:9. However, Serbian top scorers Tijana Boskovic and Brankica Mihajlovic were particularly impressive and managed a spectacular 7-1 run to reclaim the lead at 16:13. From then on, the Serbian ladies became unstoppable, and with three block kills in a row they sped ahead to 20:13. Even a last minute effort by the Czech squad could not help them turn the tables, and the Serbian ladies closed the match 3-0 with a commanding 25-18 in the third and final set.



“We are pleased that we won 3:0. We did not play at our highest level, but we were good enough against a strong performance by Czech Republic,” declared the coach of Serbia Zoran Terzic. 

“Serbia is better than us, but we played very well and we even had a few chances. The match tomorrow against Germany will be an exciting duel,” commented Czech star Helena Havelkova. 

“It was small details which decided the final outcome of the match, but we played well and Serbia maybe did not have their best day today. We are excited for tomorrow,” added Czech libero Julie Kovarova.