Berlin, Germany, January 6, 2020 - Germany celebrated their second victory in a row at the Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin by defeating Belgium in straight sets 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 26-24) on Monday. Coach Andrea Giani's team now top CEV Men's Tokyo Volleyball Qualification Pool A with six points and a first victory against the Czech Republic on Sunday, while Belgium are still to claim their first victory. The top scorer of the match was again Georg Grozer, who contributed 22 points to the win.
Germany coach Andrea Giani was satisfied with the way his team played the match, but underlined Belgium's never-say-die spirit. “I am happy that we won this game. Belgium put on a great fight while we challenged them with great energy and defence work. Our quality was a little low in the third set but we put in all our passion to win it. It felt good to come back after the 22-24 deficit in the third set and to reach the win this way.”
Germany captain Lukas Kampa, on the other hand, looked ahead to his team's match against Slovenia on Tuesday - the Slovenes also claimed a victory against Belgium on Sunday. “We are very satisfied because we are almost in the semis. The challenge against Slovenia tomorrow will be the toughest one so far. We want to reward all fans who come tomorrow to see us on a Tuesday evening but of course to win the group has to be our goal here.”
Meanwhile, Belgium coach Dominique Baeyens had to admit his disappointment. “I feel frustration. It´s almost the same story as yesterday. We lost 3-0 but we were really close to win one or two sets. Again we didn’t do it which is quite hard. I cannot blame any of my players because we have a lot of injuries. We still expected to reach more here and had the dream to go to Tokyo. I feel frustration that it is already over.”
Belgium captain Sam Deroo, however, did not look for excuses. “It was a close game in the second and third set. We had a lot of opportunities in both sets and should have won at least one of them. They showed better volleyball skills in the end and were a little bit lucky. But we should not search for excuses; we didn’t win a set in both matches. Anyway, it was a great dream to reach the Olympics but it´s already over. It is a bitter pill to swallow but that´s life.”
Quick links - Volleyball:
Continental Tokyo Volleyball Qualification
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