Italy hands the Dutch its first loss, 3-0

Italy blanks the Dutch 3-0 in todays European Olympic Qualifier results
European Men's Olympic Qualification: Italy, Spain and Finland good start
 


Mastrangelo (Italy) celebrates after the 3-0 against Dutch team
Luxembourg, 8th January 2008. On the first day of the 2008 Olympic European Men’s Qualification Tournament at Halka Pinar Sports Hall in Izmir (TUR), Italy, Spain and Finland started with victory.

In 68 minutes Italy took a clear advantage against the Dutch, winning in three straight sets 29-27, 25-18 and 25-10. Despite the great energy of the "orange" players, the Dutch team lost its strength and made too many mistake against the Italians.

In the press conference Peter Blange confirmed "today we have showed a bad game, but this is a long tournament and we will increase our performance".

In the second match, Poland started very well against Spain, the 2007 European Champion, and scored the first set 25-19. But in the second set the Spanish team tied the score 1-1 (25-22). The third set confirmed the tension linked to this major volleyball event, both teams fighting very hard to take the advantage and the Polish team closed 28-26. But again in the fourth set the Spanish team, thanks excellent blocks tied the score with 25-21. In a very exciting decisive set Spain took finally the victory by 15-11 and win the game 3-2.

In front of 1000 volleyball fans the home team started with success the competition, winning the first set 34-32 against Finland. But with more potential the Finish team, 4th ranked in the last European Championships in Moscow, ensured the victory winning the game 3-2. Mauro Berauto, the Finish coach, declared at the end of the match "this victory is important for us as we have to ensure a good start in this competition. I am proud of my team, even the fact they we could play better today".

Results
Pool A
ITA – NED 3 : 0 29:27 25:18 25:10
ESP – POL 3 : 2 19:25 25:22 26:28 25:21 15:11

Pool B
TUR – FIN 2 : 3 34:32 18:25 25:22 22:25 12:15

Matches to be played today:
15:30 SRB – FIN
18:00 POL - ITA
20:30 GER – TUR

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