Greece, France on collision course for direct ticket to Women's U19 European Championship
Panorama, Thessaloniki, Greece, 8 April 2022 - France and hosts Greece opened their campaigns of Pool E in the 2022 U19 European Championship qualifiers with convincing wins on Friday that keep them on track for a showdown for first place on the last day of competition for a direct berth in the final phase.
Greece thundered past Latvia 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-22) before a very happy sellout crowd in the Thessaloniki suburb of Panorama, on the slopes of Mount Chortiatis.
Latvia put up a feisty resistance, but Greece's attacking power proved just a bit too much to cope with, as Martha Anthouli produced a match high 25 points and a 23/38 for a 61% killing efficiency (8/9 for 89% in the first set).
Pressure from the service line by Greece yielded as many as 14 aces (five by Evangelia Tani and four by Georgia Angelopoulou alone) to seal the deal for the home side.
"It was an opening day as we expected it," said Greece head coach Anestis Giannakopoulos. "I am satisfied with the final result, but we still have a lot more to give in the next two matches."
"We knew ahead of the match that it would be a difficult one, as we have the youngest team in the tournament," added Latvia head coach Ilmars Pulins.
Earlier in the afternoon, France had fully dominated Israel for a 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-15) sweep which was actually even easier than the final scoreline might suggest.
France created great problems for Israel with their blocking with six stuffs by Nora Legrand alone and libero Julia Casadei was always on hand to tie up any loose ends in the back row, as Nawelle Chouikh-Barbez emerged top scorer of the game on 14 points and also greatly contributed in reception. Legrand stopped at 13 - the only other player across both sides to score in double digits.
"I'm very happy for the result because an opening match is always difficult. I believe that first place will be decided against Greece, but we must first beat Latvia - and we don't know m1uch about them," said France head coach Fabrice Vial.
"Our basic goal in this competition is to enjoy the games and gain experience. This generation is unlucky due to the pandemic, but we're happy to be back on court to play after two years off," said Israel head coach Logan Tom, the legendary American four-time Olympian.
The tournament continues Saturday with France taking on Latvia and Greece hosting Israel.
Greece thundered past Latvia 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-22) before a very happy sellout crowd in the Thessaloniki suburb of Panorama, on the slopes of Mount Chortiatis.
Latvia put up a feisty resistance, but Greece's attacking power proved just a bit too much to cope with, as Martha Anthouli produced a match high 25 points and a 23/38 for a 61% killing efficiency (8/9 for 89% in the first set).
Pressure from the service line by Greece yielded as many as 14 aces (five by Evangelia Tani and four by Georgia Angelopoulou alone) to seal the deal for the home side.
"It was an opening day as we expected it," said Greece head coach Anestis Giannakopoulos. "I am satisfied with the final result, but we still have a lot more to give in the next two matches."
"We knew ahead of the match that it would be a difficult one, as we have the youngest team in the tournament," added Latvia head coach Ilmars Pulins.
Earlier in the afternoon, France had fully dominated Israel for a 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-15) sweep which was actually even easier than the final scoreline might suggest.
France created great problems for Israel with their blocking with six stuffs by Nora Legrand alone and libero Julia Casadei was always on hand to tie up any loose ends in the back row, as Nawelle Chouikh-Barbez emerged top scorer of the game on 14 points and also greatly contributed in reception. Legrand stopped at 13 - the only other player across both sides to score in double digits.
"I'm very happy for the result because an opening match is always difficult. I believe that first place will be decided against Greece, but we must first beat Latvia - and we don't know m1uch about them," said France head coach Fabrice Vial.
"Our basic goal in this competition is to enjoy the games and gain experience. This generation is unlucky due to the pandemic, but we're happy to be back on court to play after two years off," said Israel head coach Logan Tom, the legendary American four-time Olympian.
The tournament continues Saturday with France taking on Latvia and Greece hosting Israel.
