Almaty, Kazakhstan, June 24, 2016 – Germany registered their first win in Group 3 of FIVB Volleyball World League as they beat hosts Kazakhstan in straight sets: 25-21, 25-19, 27-25 at the Baluan Sholak Sports Palace on Friday.
Vital Heynen, coach of Germany: “In the first two sets, I think we played okay, and in the third set, it was so close. I am happy that luck was on our side. I think the Kazakh team has a good potential. I am sure that if they keep going and pushing, in a couple of years, Germany will have really big problems in beating them. I wish them good luck.”
Dirk Westphal, captain of Germany: “It was good to win in three sets today. It was really important for us to win the first match in this year’s World League campaign. But a lot respect goes to the Kazakh team, for them to try to come back in the game with a lot of fighting spirit was quite impressive. I think we ought to learn something from today’s match and this is about playing with heart. We did not play at our best level and we have to improve a lot to be ready for the finals. In the next two games, we have to show better quality and I hope we can do it.”
Rafail Gilyazutdinov, coach of Kazakhstan: “The team showed too much respect and were in awe of the opponents especially in the first two sets. In the third set, we tried to become more aggressive particularly with our serve. In the end, it all came down to experience, which Germany clearly had more of.”
Alexandr Stolnikov, captain of Kazakhstan: “First of all, I would like to congratulate our opponents with the win. They pushed us hard today. We were not competitive in all three sets and it was our big mistake.”