#EuroVolleyU22W underway in The Hague

Türkiye, Spain, Serbia, and Italy all emerged victorious from their respective matches contested on the opening day of this year’s #EuroVolleyU22W in The Hague. Türkiye looked dominant (3-0) in their matchup with Ukraine, as did Serbia – even though they conceded a set to underdogs Portugal. The local favourites lost a dramatic five-set match to Spain, whereas reigning U22 European champions Italy had to fight hard to edge Poland at the tiebreak as well after dissipating a 2-0 lead. 

Top scorer Saar Meijer (20 points) described the result of the Dutch team as a disappointment. “It is a shame to lose the first match. We had a sluggish start but really bounced back after those first two sets. It is unfortunate that we could not carry that momentum into the fifth set. But nothing is lost yet; we did manage to take a point from the match. Naturally, disappointment prevails right now, but we still have two matches left, and in those, we will show what we are capable of and give it our all.”

On the other hand, Spanish head coach Juan Diego Garcia praised his team after the match. “I am very satisfied. We started the match really well, but then the Netherlands came back strongly. They have a lot of attacking power. It was not easy to step up again in the fifth set after losing two sets, but that’s exactly what we did. It is a tough pool with four evenly matched teams. We only have two points after this match, so I do not want to think about a top-two finish just yet. It’s going to be a very tight race in this group.”