Russia lost their first set at this championship against a spirited Netherlands
Verona, Italy, September 27, 2014 – Russia said they were nervous ahead of the meeting with the Netherlands at the FIVB Women's World Championship Italy 2014. Despite problems in defense in the first set, they won the match 3-1 to gain 12 points in the competition at PalaOlimpia on Saturday.
Russia captain Ekaterina Kosianenko: “We were worried because we knew that the Netherlands were a great team and we showed this fear in the first set. We hope that tomorrow against USA we will not make the same errors. The match will be very interesting.”
Russia coach Yury Marichev: “During the first set we had a lot of problems in defense. The Netherlands created a lot of problems for us because they defended everything. If we had kept playing like that (like in the first set) we would have lost the game.”
The Netherlands captain Robin De Kruijf: “We are very disappointed because we had our chances to win. It was a match full of great emotions, we were so close to Russia, but we did too many stupid errors. Russia was not too strong for us and we could play point to point with the two-times world champions.”
The Netherlands coach Gido Vermeulen: “A very good first set - high service pressure, good defense and so many block touches. It happened the same in the third set, we were so close to win but we had to do something more. The second and fourth sets we were down and it was so hard for us to have a good reaction after the third set. Russia is not impossible to beat, but they were greater in the key moments.”