10/06/2016 23:25
Slovenia cruise to fifth straight victory to secure promotion to next round
2016 CEV Volleyball European League - Women
Megalopolis, Greece, June 10, 2016. On Friday Slovenia extended their positive streak in Pool C of the 2016 CEV Volleyball European League – Women to five straight matches and secure their progression to the next stage of the competition. They did so after thrashing Greece in three sets on the second day of the round robin tournament being held in Megalopolis. In the other match of the day, Romania routed Hungary in three sets as well to celebrate their second victory in the competition.
Slovenia vs. Greece 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-23)
In the first and second sets Greece came out with all guns blazing but soon Slovenia took advantage of the bad day Greece had in reception and got full control of the game after the second technical time-out of each set. Greece claimed a 9-3 lead in the third set but Slovenia responded by scoring six straight points to make it 9-all. Anthi Vasilantonaki scored an ace to move the score to 22-22 but Slovenia eventually finished the match off in three sets on a service error by the home side.
Slovenia coach Bruno Najdic said: “I am very satisfied. We didn’t start that good but we managed to come back after struggling for some five minutes. We put pressure on Greece with our serve and that was the key point. I am very happy with the fifth consecutive win.”
Greece coach Ioannis Kalmazidis said: “Slovenia is a team that can perform at a very high level. Today we had problems in reception, and we gave the chance to our opponent to score a way too many aces. We will try our best tomorrow going for another victory in order to stay alive in the competition.”
Hungary vs. Romania 0-3 (17-25, 16-25, 15-25)
The first match of the day in Megalopolis saw Romania storming to a speedy 3-0 victory over Hungary. Romania played a perfect match showing much more consistency than the day before and literally swept Hungary aside. On the other hand, the young team from Hungary did not seem quite able to find a way to respond to the pressure put by their opponent. A terrific 12-0 run claimed by Romania in the third set determined the fate of the match.
Ioana Maria Baciu, who top scored with 19 points, said: “I am happy, we played well, tomorrow we have a difficult match with Slovenia but we will try to perform the best we can.”
Hungary coach Jan De Brandt: “We played bad. Today nothing worked for us, it was like our brains were off, especially in the last set. This tournament is like going to school for our team and I hope we can play better tomorrow.”
Romania coach Bogdan Paul said: “We played a little better than yesterday but definitely there is room for improvement. For sure, I expect tomorrow to keep up the good work we did today.”
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