France
Denmark started out very aggressively going up right from the start of the opening set (8:7) and by displaying a series of solid blocks widened the margin up to six points by the time the second technical time-out was called (16:10). Trine Kjelstrup pocketed the last point of the set (25-19) while Thit Eiberg Bak finished that section with 4 block kills. Denmark showed good momentum also in set 2 (8:5) before France fought back to draw level at 10 and 11. Once again the girls around head coach Skafte Herskind made the difference with their blocks and good serving and they also profited of France’s many unforced errors to cruise to a 25-20 that shaped up a 2:0 lead in sets.
France came back in set 3 by finally playing their best quickly breaking away in the score (22:9) and with Safiatou Zongo pacing their offense and sealing also the last point for a massive 25-13. The fourth set was full of ups and downs; Denmark was up 8:7, then France moved to the front (11:8). As his side was trailing 17:20, Denmark’s head coach Herskind made a substitution and helped by Nanna Naomi Molgard his side evened the score at 20 all. Still Denmark ran out of fuel and France could call for the tie-break (25-20). The “Bleus” were on a class of their own there and anchored by Kim Nowak went up 13:5, to cash the final 15-10 after a late comeback by the Danes who had reduced the margin to only three points (13:10).
“We won but I am not satisfied” France’s head coach Gael Le Draoulec said. “This is not my team. Maybe we were afraid of winning but you can’t afford this attitude in such important competition. If you are frightened, in the end you will always lose. I hope we will play better in the next matches”.
“As I joined the game I tried to motivate the girls because that was the only chance to reverse the score and win” Kim Nowak added. “Maybe we did not show our best Volleyball but we played with glowing hearts. I hope we can win tomorrow as well”.
“In Denmark Volleyball is not a big sport and we are not used to win, so that’s why we could not finish this game and bring it home” Denmark’s mentor Skafte Herskind stated. “France did not play as good as they can but they improved the quality of their game and deserved to win. We are still satisfied because we won two sets”.
“This result is fine because we played very good in the first two sets. It could have been better but we made many mistakes and we are happy anyway” Denmark’s captain Emma Brix concluded.
To read more news from this competition click on 2013 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U20 World Championship – European Qualification.
