Melbourne, Australia, June 23, 2018 – Argentina bounced back from their third set loss to record a 3-1 win over hosts Australia at the FIVB Volleyball Nations League on Saturday.
Argentina coach Julio Velasco: “We played better. We returned after the first set and went on with it, which made me happy because I remember when we started the competition, we were up two sets against USA and lost 3-2. I’m sure that was all in our minds when we led 2-0 against Australia. I’m very happy to get the win.
“When Australia fought back and won the third set, we talked about what we should do with the ball because when we lose these types of matches, it’s because we make mistakes with the ball, so we just concentrated on that.”
Argentina captain Martin Ramos: “We are very happy because in the third set Australia fought back and won that set. It was a relief to come out and finish it off in the fourth set. They pushed us hard and we really fought back to ensure the win.”
Australia coach Mark Lebedew: “We fought really well in the third and fourth sets. We were a bit unlucky at the end of the fourth set because we had a series where we could not side out. That can happen and it is just disappointing because we started a bit slow and left ourselves in a 2-0 hole. We fought really hard in that second period but the damage was done.
“There’s no single reason why we lost. It’s rather a combination of quality of the opponents, the pressure of playing at home, the travel. At the end of the day, when you get a chance to play, you’ve got to play. You either win or lose, and today we lost.”
Australia captain Paul Carroll: “In the first set we looked lost out there. It’s pretty disappointing because we played well last week and we showed glimpses yesterday against Brazil and we wanted to take steps today but we didn't. We have to give credit to Argentina’s service-reception. In the sets they won, they received our float serves better than any other team in this competition. That allowed them to run a good offence.
“We now look forward to our final game tomorrow against Poland. We love playing the Polish team. They have a big fan base here in Melbourne, so it will be a big crowd. We just hope the fans can get up each other a bit.”