Arnhem, Netherlands, April 8, 2017. Germany and Slovenia had the upper hand in today’s 5-8 semi-final duels to claim the last 2017 FIVB Girls' U18 World Championship spots. Germany routed Poland in four sets while Slovenia shocked hosts Netherlands at the 2017 CEV U18 Volleyball European Championship – Women.
The last classification matches are scheduled for Sunday with The Netherlands against Poland (12:00 CEST) and Germany playing Slovenia (14:30). All matches are streamed live and for free on LAOLA1.TV!
You can follow the Championship also on Facebook and Twitter, with the official hashtag to be used for all of your posts and tweets being #EuroVolleyU18W!
1st Semi-Final 5-8 | Germany vs. Poland
The semi-final matches 5-8 started with Germany defeating Poland 3-1 (25-18, 25-19, 22-25, 25-20) to book a ticket to the World Championship in Argentina. Both teams needed a win but it was the German team which took an incredibly fast start to surprise the Polish side with their strong service. The girls of Jens Tietböhl scored 15 aces over the whole match and put the Polish reception under enormous pressure. Combined with great fans who came from Germany to see the most important game of their team, it was a loud and cheerful unit and too much to stand for the Polish girls. As Poland were near to finding a way back into the match by winning the third set and making a close race in the fourth set, again the strong serves, produced by Luisa Keller in the crunch time, destroyed the Polish hopes of a comeback. Keller also was the best player on the court and scored 18 times for her team.
A happy German coach Jens Tietböhl reported: “I was so excited. My girls played an unbelievable game where both teams had a lot to lose. I think that we had the better block-defence system in the first and second set, while the great serves of Luisa Keller brought us the victory in the last stage. We are just happy and looking forward to playing the World Championship in Argentina.’’
Opposite Luisa Keller said: “It was a great game, with a great atmosphere and a great performance. Thanks to our fans who came to the Netherlands and supported us in such an amazing way. I am so happy that we booked the ticket to the World Championship in Argentina. The difference was our great defence, we fought like lions today and deserved the win.’’
Grzegorz Wagner, coach of Poland said: “Germany were the better team today. We made too many unforced errors in the first set, second and fourth sets. That’s all.’’
2nd Semi-Final 5-8 | The Netherlands vs. Slovenia
In the second match of the day in Arnhem, Slovenia and the Netherlands were also forced to win in order to accomplish their mission of securing a much-desired ticket to the World Championship in Argentina. Slovenia eventually overpowered the hosts with a shocking 3-1 (25-21, 16-25, 25-18, 26-24) win. Even the comeback in the second set wasn’t enough motivation for the Dutch team to change the course of the game. Too many faults, an inaccurate attack (35%) and a Slovenian team that delivered a great fighting spirit on the court gained the important points in the crunch time to send the home team in the valley of tears. Best scorer of the game was Slovenia outside spiker Alja Jerala with her tournament high score of 18 points.
Slovenia head coach Joze Casar couldn’t fully realise the sensation: “I am so proud of my girls, the Dutch team was the huge favourite. They made a great job in front of the home crowd. It has been an amazing tournament so far. We had just six days of preparation and are so happy that we booked the ticket for the World Championship. It all started with the game against Romania where we created a special spirit in the team and it finished with this game today. That is unbelievable.’’
Assistant coach Sebastjan Miksa: “It is an honour to work with our coach. He makes such an unbelievable effort at the side line and transports his energy to the players on the court. I cannot realise that we have done this. It is a miracle.’’
The Dutch coach Julien Van de Vyver said: “It is a heavy tournament, today against Slovenia we had to make the game. That caused too much pressure on my girls, resulting in too many unforced errors. We lost ourselves.’’
