Lausanne, Switzerland, May 23, 2017 - Hosts The Netherlands were caught off guard as Small Countries Division representative Luxembourg ran away with the first set, but bounced back for a 3-1 (22-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-15) win in De Koog on the opening day of Pool B at Round II of the European qualifiers for the 2018 FIVB Men's World Championship.
The Netherlands, silver medallists in 1994 in Piraeus, have not qualified to the World Championship in 15 years, since finishing 9th in 2002.
As usual, Kamil Rychlicki bagged 17 points for Luxembourg and emerged top scorer of the game. Kay van Dijk and Michael Parkinson scored 12 points each for The Netherlands who reached victory thanks to their blocking.
Greece also set off on the right foot in De Koog, but only after surviving a first set scare to beat Moldova 3-1 (20-25, 25-20, 25-17, 28-26) as Mitar Djuric scored 29 points.
Mitar Djurich gets the better of the Moldova block as he leads Greece to a 3-1 win on the opening day of the World Championship qualifiers in The Netherlands.
Austria meanwhile, who as of next week will be making their FIVB World League debut, stunned Slovakia with a 3-1 (27-25, 26-24, 19-25, 25-20) on the back of Paul Buchegger's 23 points and Alexander Berger's 19.
Austria libero Philipp Krois gets low for the dig as his side beats Slovakia in the World Championship qualifiers.
This is the first of the six pools in Round II of the European qualifiers; the remaining five begin tomorrow.
The top team of each pool qualifies to the 2018 World Championship, which will be jointly organised by Italy and Bulgaria. The six second-ranked teams advance to Round III of the continental qualifiers for one more ticket to the World Championship.
Italy and Bulgaria as organisers, Poland as defending champions and Brazil as 2015 South American champions have already secured their participation in the 2018 World Championship.
Quick links - Volleyball:
FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship 2018
FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship 2018
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