Barcelona, Spain, June 4, 2017 - Spain defeated Greece by 3-1 in the last day of action in Barcelona, as the hosts of Pool A3 in the 2017 FIVB World League finished the first weekend of competition with three victories.
Fernando Munyoz, coach of Spain: “Our goal was to take the three victories so we could go to Austria next week with options to reach the Final Four. We did it although it was not an easy weekend for us. We had played five demanding games in the Czech Republic for the World Championship qualification tournament and it was very important for us to recover and to have a good start of a completely different competition. We got better and better throughout the weekend and I have to thank the players for all their effort and their hard work in order to give our fans the three victories.”
Francisco Ruiz, player of Spain: “We kept our ambition and our will to win throughout the whole match and that was the key. We wanted to take the three victories and we fought hard to get them. There are no words to describe what we have experienced here this weekend. We are extremely thankful to all the fans from Barcelona for filling up the sports hall on the three days. We can only say: thank you, Barcelona, for all your support.”
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Arseniadis Konstantinos, coach of Greece: “We played much better than in the first two matches, and we had more energy. But in the key moments we could not find the required poise to go for the victory. These are very important matches for us because it gives great experience to some players.”
Andreas-Dimitrios Fragkos, player of Greece: “We tried to put some pressure on Spain at the beginning of the match. We did really well in blocking and defence and they had some difficulties in serving. That is why we entered very well at the first points of the game. In the end, they were better in serving and they did what we had done at the start of the match."