Austria’s women’s volleyball team put in a strong performance against Ukraine on Sunday at the Golden League home tournament in Schwechat, but after a 1:3 (-22, 20, -14, -24) defeat against the defending champions, they still have to wait for a tangible win after three matches. As on Friday in the 1:3 defeat against Slovakia, the Austrians managed to win one set. The second set went comfortably to the team of head coach Roland Schwab with a 25:20 win.
In the fourth set, the Ukrainians, number eight in the European rankings, converted their second match point. “We wanted to be brave and we succeeded,” said Schwab. “We were only two points away from the tiebreak, which shows the good development.” Austria must hope to stay in the league. This is what they will be playing next weekend in Baku against Estonia (June 1) and Azerbaijan (June 2). Schwab: “If we carry on like this, things will go our way next week.”
Second victory for ÖVV men in Silver League
The men of the Austrian Volleyball Association (ÖVV) landed their second convincing victory in the second game of the Silver League. After a 3-0 win against Iceland in Torshavn, Radovan Gacic’s team also beat the hosts, the Faroe Islands, 3-0 (18, 16, 13). The top scorer was Italian legionnaire Michael Czerwinski with 19 points. Next weekend, the Austrians will face Iceland and Israel in Strumica in North Macedonia, before the Faroe Islands and Israel will be guests at the home tournament in Amstetten a week later.
