10/06/2016 04:27
Slovenia and Greece cement their leadership in Pool C
2016 CEV Volleyball European League - Women
Megalopolis, Greece, June 9, 2016. On Thursday Greece and Slovenia started the second round robin tournament on schedule for Pool C of the 2016 CEV Volleyball European League – Women by recording victories in their respective matches with Romania and Hungary to further cement their leadership in the pool. Slovenia have a perfect record of four wins in as many matches after last weekend they swept three in a row in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary.
Greece vs. Romania 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-20)
Greece were off to a flying start to their home campaign in Megalopolis. The hosts played with a lot of energy and enthusiasm and did not face any major problem on their way to a 3-0 victory over Romania. They served and blocked really well and their reception was a further asset which paved the way towards a commanding victory.
Romania, on the other hand, showed problems in reception and they could keep the score close only up to 21-20 in the third set when Evangelia Merteki and Aikaterina Giota scored a few points in a row and as a result Greece finished the match off in three sets, with Anthi Vasilantonaki top scoring with 21 markers to receive the award for the MVP of the match.
Greece coach Ioannis Kalmazidis said: “We did a good job, especially in reception, and this helped us develop our game. The fans helped us a lot too, their energy is amazing. Tomorrow we have a difficult match against Slovenia but we will try to do our best in order to achieve a positive result.”
“We pay a high price for our bad reception. Unfortunately, we made the same mistakes we did last weekend and Greece, on the other hand, played very good. We hope tomorrow we can play a better game and will serve better. I have to say the atmosphere was really nice and this is a good thing for Volleyball and especially for the kids in this small city,” said Romania coach Bogdan Paul.
Slovenia vs. Hungary 3-1 (25-18, 25-19, 23-25, 25-23)
Slovenia remain on top of Pool C but on Thursday they dropped their first set in the competition following their matchup with Hungary.
Everything went pretty easy for Team Slovenia in the first set but Hungary stepped up their efforts in the second frame keeping the score close up to the second technical time-out before Slovenia bounced back and did not look back anymore with the help of strong serving provided by Tina Grudina.
Slovenia made it 2-0 in their favour but playing without feeling any pressure the young Hungarian team caused a little sensation by taking the third set. In the fourth set, the much more experienced players of Slovenia controlled the game almost from start to end to further cement their leadership in the pool with another three points from this victory.
Slovenia coach Bruno Najdic said: “This was a very difficult match, but I expected it to be so. We had a long trip yesterday. This was our first match in the tournament and we wanted this win in order to stay in first place in the pool. Tomorrow I hope we will play better.”
Hungary coach Jan De Brandt said: “We didn’t start very well, but after such poor start we were able to come back. I am pretty satisfied with the team. We are a young team and we are trying to perform without feeling any pressure and just give our best. We prepare for every match as thoroughly as we can in order to win and we will be doing the same ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Romania.”
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