Florence, Italy, September 12, 2018 - Slovenia celebrated
opening their FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship campaign with a
victory against the Dominican Republic in Pool A on Wednesday.
Jose Alexander Gutierrez Sanchez, Dominican Republic head coach: “A match with a lot of turning points, but it’s normal with a young team. We’re working for the future, for 2022. We played a high-level volleyball, so we’re moving in the right direction.”
Elvis Contrera, Dominican Republic captain: “It was a really interesting game, Slovenia is a good team while we’re really young, with several new players. I really enjoyed this match, we made some service and defensive mistakes and we have to improve for the next games.”
Slobodan Kovac, Slovenia head coach: “We played against the Dominican Republic which is hard as the first game of the tournament, it would have been better to get them later on. We both wish to present ourselves in the right way. We should play as we did from the second set onward, well organized and supported by a good service. We have to improve our blocking system.”
Tine Urnaut, Slovenia captain: “We started too slow and too tense, fortunately going on we relaxed and we served and received better. I’m happy because we played the first match ever for Slovenia in a World Championship and it was a victory. However we have already forgotten what happened and we are ready to think of the next match versus Japan.”