Bulgaria's coach Antonina Zetova and captain Gergana Dimitrova enjoy their unexpected 4-2 win over Japan
Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 10, 2017 – Bulgaria kept the upper hand in Sunday evening’s roller-coaster match by overpowering Japan 4-2 at the 2017 FIVB Women’s U23 World Championship here in Ljubljana. Obviously, the Bulgarians were happy, as they did not expect a win against the Asian side.
All matches in Ljubljana are played under a
new scoring system currently being tested: a best-of-seven, 15-point set format.
Bulgaria coach Antonina Zetova: “It was a very tough match because the Bulgarian team rarely plays with the teams from Asia and we suffered very much during the game. Before the game, I was very worried because I know their style. I did not know how my team would react and how they would approach the game. I love my team and I think that we are going to improve our play as we play more matches here.”
Bulgaria captain Gergana Dimitrova: “In fact we prepared very well, we saw the Japan matches on video nine times. I think it was a very good match. We have not played before against a team that plays so fast. We fought very hard towards the end of the sets. I have no clue how we managed to have such good serving, attacking and blocking. But, thanks to God we moved through and won at the end.”
Japan coach Kiyoshi Abo: “Congratulations to Bulgaria as they played very well today. We need to improve our game in attack, which was very poor today. We are going to have to train a lot to improve our attacking.”
Japan captain Misaki Yamauchi: “This was a fast match for us and we wanted to win but unfortunately we lost. Bulgaria played very well. We didn’t play very well, especially in attack.”
Quick links - Volleyball:FIVB Volleyball Women's U23 World Championship 2017
FIVB Volleyball Women's U23 World Championship 2017 - ScheduleFIVB Volleyball Women's U23 World Championship 2017 - Teams
FIVB.com - VolleyballFIVB.com
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