Team Austria start #EuroVolleyU20M home qualifier with four-set triumph
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Team Austria started their campaign in the second round of #EuroVolleyU20M qualifiers on Thursday at the Stadtwerke-Hartberg-Halle by defeating Spain 3-1 (20-25, 25-23, 25-10, 25-21). With this success, Austria has very much laid the groundwork towards reaching the Final Round scheduled for later this summer in Serbia and Greece. On Friday, head coach Markus Hirczy’s team will face outsiders Denmark.
Spain caught the better start to the match, as the visitors rushed to a 6-0 lead and won the first set quite comfortably. The away team set the pace for much of the second set as well (16-11) before Austria changed gear and was able to equalise. This was the turning point, as at this stage the hosts were very much in control of the game. The third set was over very quickly, and the hosts continued to impose their rule in the fourth set as well, where they used their fourth match point to finish it off after 102 minutes. Best player was Austria’s captain Lukas Glatz, who scored as many as 26 points.
Markus Hirczy“The Spaniards did not make it easy for us, but we were able to find our way into the match and to seize our window of opportunity. We were very stable in the third and fourth sets. I am very proud of my players. They showed what they are capable of in front of a great home crowd.”
Team Austria head coach
Earlier in the afternoon, Belgium won the tournament opener against Denmark in four sets (23-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-17). “It was not easy at the beginning, as the Danes served very well. But we stuck with our game plan and then took control,” Belgium head coach Dries Meurisse said. The Danish head coach, Denis Janka, acknowledged that his team had a very good first set, and they also had an advantage for a long time in the second. “But then we had a few weak moments from which we never recovered,” Janka explained.
The winners of the five second-round qualifiers plus the three runners-up with the best result across all five pools will qualify for the Final Round of this year’s #EuroVolleyU20M.