Germany – Slovenia
Germany opened the tournament by edging Slovenia (25-19, 25-15, and 25-16) playing with great style and confidence and clearly dominating the scene in the first two sets where they went to the front right from the start. Slovenia never really got into the match having evident problems to cope with Germany’s block. The guys around head coach Miklavc tried to react in the third set but it did not work as Germany showed great determination to comeback quickly and finish it off in straight sets to take maximum points from this game. Tim Dobbert paced the winning side with 12 points.
“I am very happy because we played a good game; after five weeks of intense training I was also curious to see where we stand and I am satisfied. If you look at the score, you may think it was an easy task but it wasn’t so” said Germany’s head coach Ulf Quell.
“Congratulations to Germany as they played a great game. We made too many mistakes and we have some problems to complete our side-out” stressed Slovenia’s head coach Samo Miklavc.
Later in the afternoon the hosts of Italy did not disappoint their fans and beat the Netherlands also in three straight sets (25-23, 25-14, and 25-18). The “Azzurrini” played with great consistency all the way through whereas the Netherlands did not display their full potential. Italy caught a good start and even though the “Oranjes” tried to come back, still the home guys showed composure and a cool attitude in the deciding moments of the opening set. They dominated the scene in set 2 while the third was a little bit more contested but eventually Italy got the upper hand there as well.
Tomorrow the local heroes will play Germany in a match that may already determine the final standings of the group.
“The first match is always very special but it was a good way to break the ice. We struggled a little bit in the first set but afterwards could impose our own game” said home mentor Marco Bonitta.
“We played a poor second set but we fought well in set 1 and 3 even though we made too many mistakes” stressed Dutch head coach Arnold van Ree.
