Italy's players celebrate their second victory at the CEV U18 champs
Lausanne, Switzerland, April 2, 2017 – Italy’s made it two wins from two at the CEV European Girls’ U18 Championship on Sunday when they beat Germany 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-21).
Italy’s Elena Pietrini led scoring with 16 points to help ensure her team remain top of Pool 1.
The CEV European Girls’ U18 Championship began on April 1 and runs till April 9 in Arnhem in the Netherlands.
“We played a strange game tonight, with some ups and downs but the victory is very important for us,” Italy coach Luca Cristofani said.
“We know that the European Championship is very difficult, long and with a lot of teams that can change the situation in every moment. The players from the bench made a good game today.”
The hosts enjoyed their first victory of the tournament with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-20) win over Russia in front of 700 fans. The Dutch were led by Hester Jasoer who scored 12 points, while opposite Lisa Nobel weighted in with a further 11.
“Yesterday we were quite disappointed after we lost the opening match against Bulgaria, especially since we missed some good chances,” Dutch captain Sarah van Aalen said. “But we managed to forget the loss and focus on the next match against Russia.
“Today we played with so much energy, and the crowd helped us enormously. We played smart and our middle blockers did great. I think now we’re really in the flow we need.”
Bulgaria needed to dig deep to upset pre-tournament favourites Turkey with a 3-2 (25-20, 25-23, 14-25, 15-25, 23-21) win in which spiker Aleksandra Milanova led scoring with 25 points.
In Pool 2 Belarus and Poland have taken a grip at the top of the pool after they won their second games.
Belarus beat Serbia 3-1 (25-20, 25-16, 22-25, 25-16), while Poland enjoyed a 3-1 (25-20, 25-12, 22-25, 25-22) victory over Romania.
Slovenia underlined their status as a growing power when they convincingly defeated Greece 3-1 (25-12, 25-17, 22-25, 25-19) in the last game of the day.
“They believed in themselves and executed all agreements we made before this match,” Slovenia assistant coach Sebastjan Miksa said. “The most important is that our girls have confidence in their strength and that they can play and win against every team.”