Dutch team overcomes Azerbaijan to get into quarter-final: Volleyball news
The second playoff match for the quarter-final qualification at the 2011 CEV Women’s Volleyball European Championship was held on Tuesday, September 27. Monza, Italy hosted all the action as the teams from Netherlands and Azerbaijan fought for volleyball
supremacy. The Dutch team was down in the first set but dismantled the power of Azerbaijan after capturing the last three sets in a row 3-1 (23-25, 27-25, 25-16, 25-17). Success enabled the Dutch ladies to earn a chance of playing against hosts Italy in the
next match on Wednesday, September 28.
Azerbaijan dropped the match but had one distinction in the form of top-scorer Natalya Mammadova, who notched 22 points for her team. On the other hand, Netherlands’ captain Manon Flier played a big part in her team’s victory. She offered good attacks in
addition to her exceptional digging and diving on the court. Flier contributed 17 points and helped the Netherlands to pull through.
Netherland started out well and picked up an early lead of 6-2 in the opening set. The Dutch squad, clad in orange tops, scored consecutive points and tried to put pressure on their opponents. However, Azerbaijan fought back and managed to shorten the gap
with counter attacks. Head Coach Avital Selinger’s side experienced a strong backlash and gave way to a 8-7 lead for Azerbaijan at the first technical timeout. Yelena Parkhomenko and Polina Rahimova put up a combined effort and led Azerbaijan to a first-set
win at 25-23. Dutch team remained at a close distance but could not avoid the loss of the first set.
Following their success, the Azerbaijani ladies kept the momentum in the second set and built a 4-point lead at the second mandatory stop. The captain of team Azerbaija, Mammadova, kept her team focused on the target before Dutch superstar, Manon Flier,
changed the outlook of the match. She hammered an ace during a key moment of the match and levelled the score by leading her team to success in the second set.
From that point onward, the Dutch never stopped hitting convincing shots. They totally wrecked the defence line of Azerbaijan and claimed back-to-back victories in third and fourth set. Despite victory in the first set, Azerbaijan failed to seize its chance
and lost the important match to Netherlands.
The winning coach of Netherlands, Avital Selinger, stated after the match: "Today’s match was difficult. The Azeri demonstrated their power and it took us a while to understand how to organize our game to make it successful. They were particularly good at
serving and blocking.”
Meanwhile, the captain of Dutch team, Manon Flier, said that they were hesitant in the first two sets of the match. However, the situation reversed itself in the following sets as they managed to bring improvement into their game. In her views, the crucial
match was more like a final match. Her counterpart, the captain of Azerbaijani team, Oksana Parkhomenko commented: "We are sad for the result of today's match. They were particularly strong at blocking. We got off with the right foot but then something changed
in their game."
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