Rotterdam, Netherlands, August 10, 2019 - The Netherlands defeated Belgium in three sets on Saturday to claim their second victory in Tokyo Volleyball Qualification Pool B.
Luuc van der Ent, Middle Blocker Netherlands: "I was enjoying myself today on court, with all the fans present. It was great fun. I didn’t realize I played a good match until after I was done. I made few mistakes, like everyone did. Clean, neatly played. I was very focused. But afterwards I had a big smile, I’m already reliving what happened just now. We have taken two steps, the third one is the biggest and most important. So, back to the hotel, eat well, sleep well and tomorrow we prepare for USA."
Roberto Piazza, Head Coach Netherlands: "We started the same way as yesterday, just a little more focused. We started to believe in the beginning that we could do something special today. We were in the game from the beginning, immediately. We were leading the first set, we were in front at the first technical time-out. We were behind at the second, but that was because we made five mistakes in a row. Then it’s normal to be a little down. I told them, we are doing this for us. Don’t focus on them, try to score points for us. The confidence was good. Confidence is one, emotion is another one. We started with a totally different emotion than yesterday. But it’s just the second step, the third one is tomorrow. Tomorrow we have to play our best volleyball, like we did today. Will it be enough? I don’t know. USA will put 100% on court. We have to respect them, they are almost leading the world ranking. We now have to focus on ourselves."
Brecht van Kerkhove, Head Coach Belgium: "Lots of things didn’t go as planned, we were waiting too much, totally different than yesterday. Till 18-18 in the first set it could have gone either way, but in the end the Dutch were more gutsy. In the second set we only scored one blocking point and the team was low on energy, one thing we usually can rely on. Then you are just an average team. We couldn’t bring it today."
Hendrik Tuerlinckx, Belgium Opposite: "It’s difficult to process a loss against USA within 24 hours and turn it around. We worked towards the Olympic qualification tournament for so long, and having it be over in under two hours is tough. 24 hours are too short to clear your heads. The mindset wasn’t good today. We are a tight group and our fighting spirit normally is one of our strong points. We didn’t show it today, we didn’t make it."