The Netherlands speed up in the Qualifier in Zadar

The Netherlands stormed out on Saturday, seizing a straight-sets victory vs the team of Sweden in the tournament taking place in Zadar, Croatia. The players led by head coach Roberto Piazza needed only 69 minutes to congratulate themselves with the victory, and to grab the 3 points from this matchup. Outperforming the opponent in all the elements, the Dutch team showed good skills, and didn't have any serious problems throughout the match, controlling the game from its very beginning. Apart from good performance on attack, Wouter Ter Maat and his teammates made it difficult for Sweden on the block (finishing with 10 successful actions on this element), and on the serving line (with 4 aces), too. After today's victory, the Netherlands top the current standings in Pool A.

• Both the Netherlands and Sweden entered the court motivated and none of the teams were able to build up a serious point difference in the beginning. The Dutch managed to score a break point and to take the lead, but this didn't mean Sweden were giving up. However, the players around head coach Roberto Piazza made it difficult for Sweden's reception, and with some successful performance on the block, were able to take the control of the play at 17-12.  Finishing with 19 winning spikes in this set, the Netherlands opened the match in their favour.

• Sweden stood better in the second set, but Wouter Ter Maat together with Luuc Van Der Ent were outperforming the opponent in attack. None of the teams amazed with monster blocks in this set, so the successful attacks (13) were the key to the Dutch success in the second set. 

• In the last set, Sweden were giving it all on the attack, but it resulted that the Dutch have other 'hidden weapons' as they disappointed the players of Per-Erik Dahlqvist on the block (5 kill blocks). Ter Maat and his teammates made it difficult for their opponents also in reception (2 aces).

• The Netherlands finished the match with 59% efficiency on the winning spikes.

• Thijs Ter Horst recorded 13 points, becoming top scorer of the match, while Ter Maat finished with 12 points. For Sweden, Viktor Lindberg and August Borna record 8 points each.

The Volleyball party across the other pools continued at full speed on Saturday. At the end of the first tournament in Pool E, Slovakia extended their winning streak to 3 victories and top the charts, while Switzerland disappointed Romania winning at 3-1 and recorded second win in the group. In Pool F, Montenegro and Greece fought hard in a Balkan derby, with the Greek players surviving a five-setter. Azerbaijan, better on attack, claimed a quick 3-0 victory over the hosts of Georgia (although Georgia recorded seven blocks). Things are pretty interesting in Pool G, too. Flying Portugal didn't leave any chances to Norway, and Belarus took a 'revenge' for the loss from Portugal on Friday, as they stormed out vs Hungary, seizing a straight-sets victory and scoring as many as 12 aces.