Austria suffer setback on opening day of #EuroVolleyU18W qualifier
News
Team Austria started their campaign in the second round of #EuroVolleyU18W qualifiers on Thursday at the Landessportzentrum VIVA in Steinbrunn with a very disappointing 1-3 (25-21, 19-25, 20-25, 21-25) loss at the hands of the girls from Lithuania. The visitors needed 102 minutes to make a first step towards reaching the Final Round scheduled for later this summer in Romania and Greece. Top scorer was Gintare Nutautaite, who registered 21 points.
Kestutis Galdikas“My players did very well today, and I think, they absolutely deserved this win. Of course, we all hope that we will be able to book the ticket to the Final Round in July."
Head coach of Team Lithuania
“Actually, I think that we had a good start. However, from the second set onwards we were no longer so successful in attack, while the Lithuanians just got better and better - especially with the serve. Therefore, Lithuania deserved to win,” said Austria’s head coach Stefan Spirk.
Later in the evening, tournament favourites Bulgaria celebrated an impressive 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-14) victory over Denmark. “Most important is that we could win our opening match. My players felt a little tired, but played with their heart,” Bulgaria’s head coach and Volleyball legend Antonina Zetova sounded satisfied with her team’s performance.
On Friday, Austria will face the Danish team, while Lithuania will clash with Bulgaria. The winners of the five second-round qualifiers plus the four runners-up with the best result across all five pools will qualify for the Final Round of this year’s #EuroVolleyU18W.
