Four equally ambitious teams set to steal the show in Baku

Baku, Azerbaijan, September 21, 2017. Azerbaijan, Germany, Poland and Hungary compose Pool A at the 2017 women’s EuroVolley – and with such four elite teams all in the same group, fans can look forward to some exciting matches once the pool stage of the tournament gets underway at the iconic National Gymnastics Arena in Baku on Friday afternoon. 

Odina Bayramova will be leading Team Azerbaijan in their quest for what would be a historic, first-ever EuroVolley medal. “The expectations are high,” she said, “and we do not want to disappoint our fans and the entire nation. We definitely do not want to relive what happened to us two years ago at the European Games where we finished the tournament in fourth place, since this is the worst thing that could happen to us. I experienced that disappointment once and do not want to feel the same way again.” 

Team Germany have come to Azerbaijan without setting any specific goals, as revealed by Maren Fromm (formerly known as Brinker), but they are certainly motivated to perform to the best of their abilities. “We have discussed this together with the team and the coaching staff and in order not to feel any unnecessary pressure, we just want to take it one match at a time and to grow with every game. We know our opponents pretty well and it is good that we start the tournament playing Poland, since we crossed our ways earlier this summer at the Montreux Volley Masters and we closely followed them at the World Grand Prix Group 2 Finals in Ostrava too. We know what lies ahead.” 

Fromm’s husband Christian just won a historic silver medal at the men’s EuroVolley in Poland. “He is somehow disappointed that he cannot come to Baku to cheer us on – as it is quite far away but he is supporting us from afar as much as I did when I went to Poland to follow the men’s tournament. We would like to follow the example set by our men’s national team – they had a fairly low-profile summer before they caused that sensation at the European Championship. I wish we could be able to come closer to doing just the same.” 

Hungary, on the other hand, are competing at their second consecutive #EuroVolley Finals, after in 2015 they returned to this stage for the first time in 28 years. “We are the underdogs,” their Italian coach Alberto Salamoni said, “and also the team with the less impressive physical skills. However, if any of the other teams competing in this pool performs below their standards, we are fully ready to grasp the opportunity to cause a surprise.” 

Team captain Rita Liliom sounds even more ambitious. “Two years ago we made it to the Playoffs and obviously we would love to achieve the same feat again. Hungary will be one of the hosts of the 2019 EuroVolley Finals and there is a lot of excitement already in our group because of this truly unique opportunity. After some difficult years, Volleyball is becoming increasingly popular in Hungary – and from this tournament we would like to take one extra boost of energy for the next two years leading up to the 2019 Finals on home soil.”   

“For at least 50 percent of the girls on this team this is going to be the first such big tournament,” said Poland captain Joanna Wolosz. “We have been gaining more and more experience over this season and this competition is also going to be another important experience. We want to present our best side here and show what we have learnt during these nearly five months together. We want to focus on our own game and if all the bits on this machine work correctly, this can be some very good Volleyball.”

“We are facing strong opposition, but there are no bad teams here,” she continued. “Germany are a very solid team with great technique and they have played in more or less a similar line up for a couple of years now. Azerbaijan, playing on their home ground, are going to be very tough. As for Hungary, we played two matches against them last year in the EuroVolley qualifiers and we hope to keep it that way, even though we are now a different team than we were then. Each match will be a chance to show our best game.”

“To put it simply – our squad is not an experienced one,” Poland coach Jacek Nawrocki said. “Some of the girls remember the last European Championship, but only our setter played a major role in the team at that time. On one hand, I am a bit unhappy about this team being new and lacking in experience for this tournament. On the other hand, I feel that this is the right way to go and these are the girls, which we will be able to count on in the future. They are already able to put up a fight in this competition, able to show their best skills. This is the mind-set we came here with. I try not to give my players a minimum or a maximum plan or goal – we should only get out there and give our best effort in each game.” 

The competition in Pool A starts on Friday afternoon with Azerbaijan playing Hungary and Poland taking on Germany later in the evening.