Lima, Peru, June 29, 2019 – The Czech Republic’s head coach Ioannis Athanasopoulos worried about losing Andrea Kossonyiova (ankle sprain) but is convinced his team deserves to be in the FIVB Volleyball Challenger Cup final match to battle for the 2020 FIVB Volleyball Nations League, after edging Argentina 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-23) in the semifinals.
Ioannis Athanasopoulos, head coach Czech Republic: “I have mixed emotions, I am worried for Andrea Kossonyiova’s injury, I hope it is not serious. We were very dominant, especially in the first two sets; in the third set my players were nervous for Kossonyiova. We were the better team, we were very well-prepared and we deserve to be in the final. Our block defence was well-structured and we were aggressive in serves (that is why we lost so many). Finally, we dedicate the victory to Kosoonyiova.”
Pavla Smidova, captain Czech Republic: “We wanted to win this match fast so everyone was in their role, concentrated on giving our best performance. All the teams here want to play against the best teams in the world and that is exactly what we will fight for tomorrow, no matter who our opponent is, focusing on our game but it will be difficult with our best player injured.”
Erika Mercado, opposite Argentina: “This is my first time representing Argentina live, I am very proud, it is an honour to be part of the team, it took me six years to become an Argentinean citizen. We have much more to show, but this is our first competition together, we need to know each other better to be able to perform with the quality we are looking for; there will be more opportunities to prove it."
Hernán Ferraro, head coach Argentina: “Today our reception was really bad, contrary to our previous matches and we also committed too many attacking errors trying to hit their hands and being aggressive; we should choose better attacking options. We failed on serves in crucial moments and it was not necessary handing out so many points.”