Rotterdam, Netherlands, June 6, 2018 - The Netherlands defeated the Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-18) in Rotterdam on Tuesday.
Netherlands captain Maret Balkestein-Grothues said: “I’m happy we finished it off in three sets, but we can play better. Our team is not really ‘swinging’ yet. Once the match developed, we were dominating. Especially our service was strong today.”
Netherlands coach Jamie Morrison said: “I’m happy with the win, although it didn’t go that easy. Dominican Republic is a team that can play very well if you give them the chance to. In the first two sets we could have closed the door earlier. In this phase of the tournament all the teams are quite tired. It’s my job to keep our players fit, so that they are less tired than our opponents. In the upcoming matches against Italy and Serbia we have to be good to stand a chance.”
Dominican Republic captain Niverka Marte said: “Holland is a very strong team, and so are Serbia and Italy. We made too many mistakes today to have a chance against this powerful team. We are here with some new players and our main goal is to stay in the Volleyball Nations League, because it’s a wonderful tournament.”
Dominican Republic coach Marcos Kwiek said: “We played really good in the first two sets, the level between both teams was almost tied. Some mistakes in the beginning cost us in the end. With this new team we are sometimes missing some rhythm. We have to work more on our concentration and the fundamentals.”