The German volleyball players around captain Jennifer Janiska have made a successful start to the World Cup.
The team of national coach Vital Heynen beat Bulgaria 3:1 (25:22, 21:25, 25:23, 25:21) in Arnhem, Netherlands. The Belgian Heynen, coach of the men at the German Volleyball Association (DVV) from 2012 to 2016, is in charge of a women’s team for the first time.
“You could see that we still falter a bit from time to time. The three points are very important,” said Janiska. It is valuable for the table that the team turned the fourth set after falling behind and didn’t “leave anything behind”.
In Group C of six, the DVV selection continues in Arnhem with the game against Kazakhstan (Monday), then defending champions Serbia (Thursday), Olympic champions USA (Friday) and Canada (Saturday/alle sportdeutschland.tv) are waiting in Lodz.
The top four teams make it to the second group stage. The German women have never won a World Cup medal.