Another perfect turn
Just like in the previous matches in Zlín against Slovakia (3:1) and Finland (3:2), Jiří Novák’s men lost the first set this time, but in the end they won 23:25, 25:16, 25:16 and 25:22.
“Once again, I was very angry entering the match when we do not respect the opponent, because the greatest respect is when you play at your best. Then we switched on and it was visible. Maybe we thought it would be easy, but it was not. Anyway, the result met expectations and we happy for the victory,” said coach Novák.
Martin Licek and Lukáš Vašina took care of 13 Czech points, eight points were scored by substitute nineteen-year-old Jiří Benda. “The first set is kind of our classic, when we don’t manage to get going and grab the start. Today we wanted to change that, unfortunately it didn’t work out, so we have to focus on the next match. Hopefully it will work out there. I tried to do my best for the team and I’m very happy that it worked out,” added the representative rookie, who had a success rate of 83 percent in the attack.
In the first half of the competition, the Czech team lost a single point and leads an incomplete table with a four-point lead over the Finns, who have a home duel with the Slovaks on Sunday. The national team will start the return leg, which the Czechs will play completely in their opponents’ halls, next Saturday with a duel in Tartu, four days later they will present themselves in Tampere, and on June 17 they will finish the basic group with a match in Nitra.
The Czechs fell to Romania
At the halfway point in Group B, all three teams are level after all three matches ended 3-1. The Czech team remained at the top of the table thanks to the best ratio of points achieved overall, ahead of Romania and Slovakia. The remaining matches await the Czech national team on Thursday in Pitesti and on June 14 in Nitra.
The Czechs lost the first set after allowing the opponent a six-point streak from 13:14, and the mix-up in the lineup did not help. The home team started the second set with four points in a row and kept the Romanians at bay from then on. However, the Czechs did not follow up on the smooth equalizer and did not lead even once in the rest of the game. The next act had a similar course to the second one, Athanasopoulos’ selection evened out the initial loss, but did not turn the score over to his side and immediately let the opponent into a blockbuster again. The beginning of the fourth set also belonged to the Romanians, and the Czech team was just catching up again.
“Today, the opponent showed us a lot of weaknesses. Apart from the second set, which was great from our side, we were not able to show our game. We passed poorly and they were very good in defense on the block,” said coach Athanasopulos.
“The Romanians probably had to get some soda after the lost match in Slovakia and today they showed a much better performance. We were unable to cope with their excellent service or subsequently defend the key players,” stated the recorder Kateřina Valková. “We have to take all the good things from it, we look at the video, we learn and nothing is lost. We start again from scratch in the group. We have to take it again from Monday and take it back in Romania,” she added.
In Ostrava, Gabriela Orvošová was clearly the best domestic player, the author of 19 points, while Adelina Budaiová-Ungureanuová scored one more in the opposing team.
2023-06-03 19:05:56
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