Takasaki, Japan, June 10, 2017 – Slovenia coach Slobodan Kovac highlighted the contribution of Masahiro Yanagida after the Japanese player made the difference in Japan's 3-2 (25-22, 17-25, 25-18, 22-25, 17-15) win at Takasaki Arena on Saturday.
Slovenia coach Slobodan Kovac: Japan played a good match today. No. 8 (Yanagida) was fantastic. He changed the match with his serve. We tried to play good and in some moments we did but the service was the difference. We did not profit when we had the chance and made mistakes at key moments.
Japan captain Masahiro Yanagida: They were tall and had power, so it was a challenge. Our service and reception worked well. We made make some mistakes and will have to work on those, but it was a great result for us.
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Japan player Shuzo Yamada: Because (Yuki) Ishikawa's condition is not good, I got a big chance to play. This is my first time in the senior national team. It was a tough game.
Slovenia captain Tine Urnaut: It was a tough match. They played good. The serves in the fifth set changed the course of the match. They played better in serve reception. They took chances and created problems for us on sideouts.
Japan coach Yuichi Nakagaichi: Slovenia are very strong. I studied them on video and expected a tough match. We prepared a lot for this. We had to be ready for their push ball and feint ball. We had some balls we did not get to and that is why we could not win easily. I expected good serves from us tonight. Yanagida really helped us tonight.
