Quite an easy job for both Croatia and Belgium in Split
Croatia delighted about 1,000 home fans with a great performance against Hungary in Split
Split, Croatia, - Croatia and Belgium both successfully opened their campaign in the 2nd Round Tournament to the 2010 FIVB Women’s World Championships which started out this afternoon in Split. Croatia totally demolished Hungary in three straight sets with Belgium recording a similar performance against Slovakia.
In the first match, featuring the likes of the local heroines and Hungary, a nervous start for both teams resulted in numerous service errors. Then, at 7-9, Grbac and Popovic stepped up for Croatia to speed up the score to 19-10. Hungarian coach Ludwig made a couple of changes, putting Takacs and Gudmann in the field, but couldn't save the first set. In the second, though, the visiting team found the composure of its game and led provisionally at 13-15. After a couple of time-outs Croatia regained its confidence for the 20-17. Local hero Cecilia Dujic played her first minutes and helped out the team to secure the second set. In the third, the Croatian team was at its best and confidently finished the job after 72 minutes of play with the first point of another girl from Split, Jelena Alajbeg.
“We were a little bit nervous at the beginning, we made many mistakes at the serve, but we compensated it with strong field play. Every one of my girls did her part of the job. The crowd was also great. We played on a very high level occasionally, but we must improve for the next two matches“, said Croatian coach Miroslav Aksentijevic.
Zsolt Ludvig, Hungary’s coach added: "We are enjoying our stay in Split, the tournament is very well organized and I'm thankful to the organizers. We tried to do our best, we played very good in the second set, but we made a lot of mistakes, especially on serving. Croatia, on the other hand, had very powerful attacks and fully deserved the victory. Congratulations to the host team, and hopefully we will play better tomorrow”.
In the second match a very strong start for Belgium (8-1) decided the first set, although Slovakia, after some substitutions (Hatinova, Torokova, Konecna, Solange), managed to get as close as to 22-21. Belgium held a 3-4 point lead throughout the second set and doubled the advantage after the 2nd technical time-out. Slovakia tried to step up in the third set, however Belgium, with some help from the bench (Szcygielska, Van Hecke) answered with strong field play and powerful attacking to end the first competition day after 78 minutes. Gert Van Den Broek, Belgium coach, commented: “We started very well, our serving was great, our block was well organized. But we had no control in attack. The winning of the 1st set was crucial, we were lucky to have the key ball roll over on the other side of the net. In the 2nd set we got a huge boost from our 16-year old Lise Van Hecke, she scored some difficult balls. Our concentration dropped at the beginning of the third set, but after a time-out, we put our thoughts back together and got the first victory.“
Miroslav Cada, Slovakia’s coach, added: “We were under a big pressure, so we had many problems with the reception at the beginning of the game. Our opponents showed a great field defense. We played very good at the end of the first set, unfortunately we lost it and we weren't able to come back into the game”.
Croatia’s Secretary of Sports, Mr. Zeljko Klaric, attended the first day of the competition, together with about 1,000 spectators.
Results Croatia vs. Hungary 3-0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-12) Belgium vs. Slovakia 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-17)
