ECH M: The Netherlands outplay Czechs in four-setter in Sofia

The Netherlands

In Set 1, both teams were perfect in the attack, playing point for point until 13-all. Then, the Netherlands made a 3-0 run with Kooy’s kill, Van Dijk’s block and Abdel-Aziz’s ace and went on 16-13. Afterwards, the Czech players became nervous and started to commit errors by sending spikes out of bounds. Thus, the Dutch team easily brought the set to an end 25-21.

A turning point of Set 2 was a bit earlier than in a previous set. The Netherlands again created a small gap with 3-0 run, but this time at 3-all. Kooy with a spike and block and Diefenbach with an ace – it was 6-3. This gave the wings to Dutch players and they kept the lead by good blocking 25-17.

The Czech Republic showed their strength in Set 3 by establishing dominance in two segments, attack and blocking. At 7-all, they had a 3-0 run (10-7), but didn’t stop on that. They extended lead to 15-9 and the Netherlands couldn’t recover. Adam Bartoš and Finger were Czech’s main power in Set 3, 25-20.

The Czech Republic gained an early lead in Set 4, 5-3, but they committed too many service errors, while on the other side, the setter Abdel-Aziz left Kooy and Van Dijk one-on-one several times. It was quite enough for his team to turn over 18-15 and 21-17. Bontje added a block or two and the Netherlands took win 25-18.

See full stats here.

FINAL ROUND / ALL POOLS / DAY 1

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