Portugal vs. Estonia
The home side of Portugal swept Estonia in Pool A at the opening day of the 2018 FIVB Challenger Cup whose winners will play the last-placed challenger in the 2018 FIVB Nations League for the place in the 2019 edition of the annual prestigious tournament.
Portugal took revenge on Estonia for the defeat in the semifinal of the 2018 CEV Golden European League, which Estonia eventually conquered, with a 3-0 victory – partially 25-19, 25-16, and 25-20. Alexandre Ferreira, the overall best scorer of the 2018 Golden European League, highlighted Portugal with 23 points, including 5 aces, while Phelipe Martins added 4 kill blocks to the win of his team. In Estonia, the 2018 Golden European League MVP Renee Teppan made 13 points.
„I’ve always said that if this team played with confidence in their quality they could face any opponent. We won against the team that won the Golden European League, but there are still some errors that we need to fix so that what happened in this third set won’t happen again. We won because we prepared well for this match, we played better and took advantage of the public’s support,“ Portugal head coach Hugo Silva said.
Czech Republic vs. Cuba
The Czech Republic also scored a straight-set win at the Challenger Cup opening as they beat Cuba in Pool B, partially 25-19, 25-22, 25-21, thanks to 18 points from Michal Finger. Miguel Gutiérrez top-scored for the Caribbean side with 24 points.
„We have shown a good performance as we pushed the whole game throughout the service. We were defending very well today and that was key in this match and brought us to victory,“ the Czech head coach Michal Nekola stated.
To see complete results, stats, and standings, visit our FIVB Volleyball Challenger Cup 2018 / Male / Seniors page.
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