Germany holds off Croatia for 3-0 victory at European Olympic Qualifiers – Volleyball news
The European Women’s Olympic Qualification tournament kicked off on May 1 in Ankara, Turkey.
The opening match of the qualifying phase featured Germany and Croatia, where the German squad proved to be too strong for Croatian team and pulled off success by sending 3-0 (25-12, 25-16, 25-17) on board. Turkish City Ankara hosted the match, while Baskent
Hall in TVF Complex set up the field of play. The Croatian team was missing a few key players and suffered the loss in first match.
GRÜN Angelina of Germany added 10 winning spikes and finished as top scorer in the match. She was the only player who actually went into double-digit score. Croatia’s Jelena Alajbeg put up good effort for her team but ended up with only 8 points, which could
not lead her team to success.
The opening set was all about Germans as they did not allow Croatia to take the lead for a single time. German musketeers started out with powerful serves and promptly went up on the scoreboard. In the first place, they influenced the opponent with their
convincing attacks. Secondly, the solid defence helped them to keep Croatians behind the attack line.
Furthermore, Croatia caught up in unforced mistakes and failed to give a competition to German squad. Germany took a jump from 8-5 to 16-10 and controlled the operations of the game. The first set swiftly inched its way to the end and eventually Germany
closed the opening frame at 25-12.
Croatia took a good start in the following set and picked up an early lead. However, they could not carry the potential and Germans regained better status. Once the German came on top they never lagged behind and covered the length of second set with success.
Germany extended its lead to 2-0 by winning second set 25-16.
Third set imitated the opening frame as Germany led the scores all the way from start to end. Germans put an end to the tussle by closing third set at 25-17 and announced match victory.
Damir Jurko, the Croatian mentor disclosed his thoughts after the match. He said, "We made many mistakes, especially in attack and we lost. The German players were technically better than us. It is a pity that some of our players were sick and could not
take part in this match.”
German head coach Giovanni Guidetti commented, “We played very well as a team, which is important in a tournament like this. We made fewer mistakes than Croatia and I am happy that we won.”
Winning Captain Margareta Kozuch of Germany expressed about victory in the opening match and appreciated the combined effort of her team.
In the next run, Germany will take on host Turkey on Thursday, May 3. It is definitely going to be a cracking fight between the two top teams of the competition. Check back for more updates and latest news.
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