Israel – Slovakia
In the first match of the day Spain routed Sweden in straight sets (25-8, 25-9, and 25-16). The Spanish ladies really wanted to get immediate redemption after yesterday’s loss to Israel and they started out very strong. Sweden collected only 17 points in the first two sets. Spain slowed a little bit down in the third set, but still cruised to an easy 25-16 to finish the match in straight sets.
“It was a completely different game than yesterday’s match with Israel. We were very disappointed and we just wanted to play well today. We did it and we are happy with that. We will try to win also tomorrow against Slovakia, since our goal is to qualify directly for the final round of the European Championship. Yesterday was a bad day for us, but we still have time to recover” said the head coach of team Spain Francisco Hervas.
“It was a new experience for us, because Spain played totally different than Slovakia. We received better than we did yesterday, but Spain was really knocking us down. We had some good moments in the game, but Spain had very good reception, strong defense and also more experience. We have to work, that’s the only way to come closer to teams like Slovakia, or Spain” added Swedish head coach Tina Celinder-Nygren.
In the second match of the day Slovakia beat Israel in straight sets (25-16, 25-18, and 25-18). The home team started with spiker Ivana Bramborova who had not played in the first day because of illness. Slovakia started very well, they served very solid and the biggest difference between the two teams was in attack.
Slovakia claimed the first set 25-16 and the second followed the same pattern. The home team was still up in the score and the people in attendance at Arena Poprad could enjoy some high-quality Volleyball. The Israeli girls, who had surprised Spain on Thursday, fought to come back, but it was not enough. Slovakia won 3:0 and currently tops the tables with six points.
“I am happy that we played very good in this important match. Especially middle-blocker Tatiana Crkonova is in a great form. I think the biggest difference between the teams was in attack” said the head coach of team Slovakia Miroslav Cada.
“Slovakia was very strong today and we did not enough to beat them” added the mentor of team Israel, Arie Selinger.
