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| Spain defeated Greece 3:1 in the opening match on Day 1 |
Marseille, France, 2009 — There were no big surprises on the first day of European Pool G action at the 2010 FIVB Women’s World Championship, as Slovenia cruised to an easy victory over Finland and Spain brushed aside Greece.
Spain and Slovenia came into the second-round tournament here as two of the teams to beat, and they didn’t disappoint, with Slovenia winning in straight sets (25-16, 25-17, 25-22) and Spain pretty much dominating from the outset in a 3:1 victory (25-20, 18-25, 25-20, 25-15).
It appears that Finland and Greece will have to call on lady luck to pull off an upset at the competition if they are to stand any chance of moving on to the next round.
Hosts France open their World Championship campaign tomorrow night at 8:30 against the Slovenians knowing the outcome could be crucial in clinching one of the three tickets up for grabs to the third round, slated for mid July.
Team France coach Fabrice Vial and assistant coach Thierry Hippolyte both admitted to a lack of any real knowledge of their opponents, but added that they were impressed by the performance of the girls from Ljubljana against Finland.
French captain Anna Rybaczewski said that despite not knowing a lot about tomorrow’s opponents, she was nevertheless quite calm and relaxed about the upcoming showdown.
“We do not know that much about Slovenia but we will give it our all to start off this tournament in the very best possible way,” Rybaczewski said. “We are playing for high stakes and we want to make sure that advancing from this group is a very beautiful adventure. I'm confident that we can achieve the goals we have set.
"Until next Sunday we will have to take it step by step,” she added. “We are all aware that we have a very good chance to make it to the next round and that we have to go back to 1974 to find a French team that qualified for a World event ... It really is time for us to return to the top.”
Results
Spain vs. Greece 3:1 (25-20, 18-25, 25-20, 25-15)
Slovenia vs. Finland 3:0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-22)
