25/09/2017 19:13
Azerbaijan beat Germany to progress straight to #EuroVolleyW quarterfinals
2017 CEV Volleyball European Championship - Women
Baku, Azerbaijan, September 25, 2017. On Monday, Azerbaijan completed a clean sweep of their matches in Pool A – and they did so by coming from behind to record a 3-1 victory over Germany (19-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-18) and secure their spot in the quarterfinals of the historic 2017 women’s EuroVolley they are co-hosting together with Georgia. As for Germany, they eventually settled for third place in the group after they previously lost to Poland and beat Hungary to continue their European Championship journey in the Playoffs on Wednesday where they will take on Pool C runners-up Bulgaria.
Azerbaijan were once again off to a rusty start – similar to what happened in their previous matches with Hungary and Poland, but this time around the hosts could not make up for it. Germany, on the other hand, played with a lot of composure and resilience to set the pace of the game – and even though Azerbaijan put up a fight, Germany would hold on to their early lead, eventually securing a 25-19 win. This setback coincided with the first set dropped by Azerbaijan since the beginning of the tournament – much to the surprise of the fans in attendance, including the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, who visited the women’s EuroVolley for the third time in four days.
Azerbaijan found back their rhythm in the early stages of the second set (10-7) but Germany were up for more – playing with no pressure, as following Sunday’s victory over Hungary they had secured their progression to the knockout stage of the competition, the ‘Butterflies’ were free from any inhibition. Azerbaijan’s four-point advantage at the second technical time-out grew as the set progressed – and the home stars could level the match (25-19) following a double block on Germany’s opposite Louisa Lippmann.
The third set was pretty much the same with Azerbaijan leading the way at the first technical time-out (8-5) and Germany putting up a fight and responding with a level of intensity and quality they had not showed before in the tournament. The Germans had a couple of opportunities to draw level but failed to do so – as Azerbaijan’s superstars Polina Rahimova and Natalya Mammadova scored repeatedly to spark further enthusiasm among the local fans and double the home side’s lead in the match.
Azerbaijan did not lose composure in the fourth set – where their tempo was something Germany could not match anymore and after dictating the pace from start to end, they eventually celebrated their third victory in the competition – a joy they shared with 3,400 raucous supporters in attendance.
Quotes
Lenka Dürr, libero of Germany: “We always play to win, and it did not make any difference that we were playing the hosts of this tournament and a team as strong as Azerbaijan. Our start to the match was very promising and we took the first set. This was a boost to our morale and we very much hoped to continue the same way but they raised the level of their game – and could not match the experience and quality of their players. We have a very young team, whereas they are experienced enough to find ways to adjust to the conditions and cope with the difficulties they initially had.”
Felix Koslowski, head coach of Germany: “I think we played an amazing first set, maybe even above the level we have at the moment and I am extremely satisfied with this and it will give us a lot of confidence. The problem was in the experience of Azerbaijan’s team. These players – Mammadova, Rahimova, they played already in the 2007 European Championship while we had four, five players on court today, who have never competed in EuroVolley before, so the difference in experience between these two teams is simply huge. On top of this, they have royal-class spikers, I think unlike any of the teams in this tournament, who showed their class today.”
Famil Aghayev, assistant coach of Azerbaijan: “We are very happy – as we move on straight to the quarterfinals from first place in our pool. The match against Germany was difficult since we felt tired after yesterday’s emotional game with Poland. After the first set, we showed some good Volleyball and eventually achieved the desired result. Tomorrow we have a rest day for our team and we will start to prepare for the quarterfinals.”
Kseniya Poznyak, middle blocker of Azerbaijan: “It was a very tough game. In the first set, we could not find our rhythm, but after that, we started to play as we know. Some players were not in a good shape today but we knew we needed a victory. We can now focus on the quarterfinals and we will enjoy some rest after the difficult matches we had in the group stage. We will come back stronger than ever in a couple of days.”
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