Sweden – Slovakia
After a strong opening by Sweden, Slovakia went to the front in the opening set (8:6) and extended that margin to 13:9 with the help of Veronika Hroncekova and Erika Salanciova. The side around head coach Miroslav Cada set the pace 16:12 at the second technical time-out but Sweden could reduce a bit the gap via the blocks of Tina Johansson and Madelene Green before Slovakia pocketed the final 25-20.
Anchored by Martina Viestova, Slovakia cruised to a massive 8:2 in the second set and even though Sweden scored the next four, still Slovakia enjoyed a margin of eight (16:8) by the second mandatory stop. With good defense and the attacks of Brazilian-born Solange Soares Slovakia comfortably sailed to the final 25-17.
Things did not change in set 3 with Slovakia up 8:5 and 16:6 and going for a speedy 25-12 with the last point being contributed by Soares, top scorer of the match with 19 points.
“We played very good in all fundamentals and this made the difference today. I am very happy and finally these were two good weeks for our team” said the Slovak mentor.
“We improve match by match and this is very important for us. I hope we can continue to progress and finally be able to challenge the strongest teams” added Sweden’s mentor Tina Celinder-Nygren.