MADRID, 25 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish men’s and women’s volleyball teams had mixed starts to their respective European Qualifiers on Sunday, with the former claiming victory over Portugal, while the latter fell to Switzerland.
The women’s team got off to a good start in the qualifying phase for the next European Championship after clearly beating Portugal away from home by 0-3 (20-25, 22-25 and 21-25) in a great match for Pascual Saurín’s team.
According to the RFEVB, points from Julia de Paula, María Segura and Lucía Varela led the Spanish offensive game to an important victory that Spain will try to continue this Wednesday at 5 p.m. against Georgia in Guadalajara.
However, things went worse for the team coached by José Luis Moltó, who suffered a tough defeat in the tiebreaker on their visit to Switzerland, winning 3-2 (25-16, 25-23, 19-25, 22-25 and 15-9), after managing to equalise two sets behind.
Things did not start well for the Spaniards, who were dismantled in the first set, but under the offensive leadership of Villalba and Víctor Rodríguez, they would balance the two-set lead of the locals to force a valuable tiebreak where points from Lars Migge and several errors by the visiting Spanish team would tip the balance of the match. Spain will complete the first phase of the Pre-European tournament against Sweden this Wednesday in Guadalajara at 8 p.m.