Spain presented its candidacy to qualify for the Final Four of 2009 European League with another convincing performance this afternoon in Albacete. The Spaniards beat Greece in their second match up of the weekend and set their eyes on the final round to be played in Turkey. The second game was a repetition of the first encounter, and Spain proved to be too strong for the young Greek squad (25-20, 25-19, 25-16).
Greece tried to find solutions to the Spanish superiority, which was ocular in the three sets victory of the first match of the weekend; in order to achieve this goal, the team trained by Giorgios Lykoudis attempted to stop the Spanish attacks by taking more risks in the service and by working harder to save balls in defence. Greece played at a higher level in this second match and created harder game situations for Spain. Nonetheless, the Spaniards were at full throttle and overcame the obstacles planted by Greece, hence obtaining their second victory on home ground, and their third triumph in the competition.
“I am very satisfied with our victory today, because Greece played much better in this second match. Today we had to improve and give a bigger effort in order to beat Greece”, said the Spanish head coach, Gido Vermeulen, who expressed his contempt for achieving another 3-0 victory. “It is important for us that we got another three setter because that implies that we could maintain our level of performance in both matches”.
“As it had happened yesterday our younger players made too many mistakes; this gave Spain more opportunities to beat us. I hope we can improve for the upcoming weekends”, said the Greek head coach, Giorgios Lykoudis. Greek player, Ourania Gkouzou, was more critical: “I think that we could have played better; we started the sets very tied but our mistakes gave the victory to the Spaniards”.
Despite the Greek efforts, the attacks of Elena Garcia and Maria Jose Garrido found the rivals’ court easily. The Spanish setter, Patricia Aranda, was able to provide her team mates with enough quality balls, thanks to the effective reception of the Spanish second line, so the local attackers just had to apply their spiking abilities to put the ball on the other side of the net. The offensive performance of Spanish offensive players and the contribution of the Spanish middle blockers provided the locals with an edge in each set that Greece was incapable of offsetting. Spain paved its way to a three sets victory, and to present its options to be in the Final Four slated for July in Kayseri (Turkey).
Spain will travel to Serbia next week in a double match encounter that may decide the leadership of Pool A.
Greece tried to find solutions to the Spanish superiority, which was ocular in the three sets victory of the first match of the weekend; in order to achieve this goal, the team trained by Giorgios Lykoudis attempted to stop the Spanish attacks by taking more risks in the service and by working harder to save balls in defence. Greece played at a higher level in this second match and created harder game situations for Spain. Nonetheless, the Spaniards were at full throttle and overcame the obstacles planted by Greece, hence obtaining their second victory on home ground, and their third triumph in the competition.
“I am very satisfied with our victory today, because Greece played much better in this second match. Today we had to improve and give a bigger effort in order to beat Greece”, said the Spanish head coach, Gido Vermeulen, who expressed his contempt for achieving another 3-0 victory. “It is important for us that we got another three setter because that implies that we could maintain our level of performance in both matches”.
“As it had happened yesterday our younger players made too many mistakes; this gave Spain more opportunities to beat us. I hope we can improve for the upcoming weekends”, said the Greek head coach, Giorgios Lykoudis. Greek player, Ourania Gkouzou, was more critical: “I think that we could have played better; we started the sets very tied but our mistakes gave the victory to the Spaniards”.
Despite the Greek efforts, the attacks of Elena Garcia and Maria Jose Garrido found the rivals’ court easily. The Spanish setter, Patricia Aranda, was able to provide her team mates with enough quality balls, thanks to the effective reception of the Spanish second line, so the local attackers just had to apply their spiking abilities to put the ball on the other side of the net. The offensive performance of Spanish offensive players and the contribution of the Spanish middle blockers provided the locals with an edge in each set that Greece was incapable of offsetting. Spain paved its way to a three sets victory, and to present its options to be in the Final Four slated for July in Kayseri (Turkey).
Spain will travel to Serbia next week in a double match encounter that may decide the leadership of Pool A.
