The German volleyball players started successfully in the European Championships at home. As expected, the team of national coach Vital Heynen defeated Greece 3-0 (25:19, 25:21, 29:27) in front of 1256 spectators in Düsseldorf’s Castello on Thursday.
The match against Azerbaijan continues on Saturday (8 p.m. / Sportdeutschland.TV), the other opponents in the preliminary round are Sweden, the Czech Republic and Turkey.
At the tournament, which is also held in Belgium, Estonia and Italy, the selection of the German Volleyball Association (DVV) wants to collect important points for the world rankings and put itself in a good starting position for the Olympic qualification. Reaching the knockout phase is firmly planned for this. In the last edition, Germany was eliminated in the round of 16.
The DVV women, currently number eleven in the world, made a powerful start in the first of five group games in Düsseldorf and secured the first set 25:19. Only the injury-related replacement of outside attacker Hanna Orthmann clouded the good mood.
Germany didn’t get this upset at first, after 27 minutes of play in the second round it was 25:21 for the butterflies. In the third set, the Greeks, 20 places behind the German team in the world rankings, turned up the heat and put the favorites under a lot of pressure. Only a nerve-racking final sprint by the co-host prevented a fourth set.