Laura Dijkema wants the Netherlands to play in the FIVB World League Final Six
Bari, Italy, June 19, 2016 – The Netherlands recorded their second win in a row this weekend with a quick 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-19) over Thailand on Saturday.
Giovanni Guidetti, Netherlands, coach: This round turned to be a positive experience although we did not manage to seize the moment against Russia, who did not play a great game. We did not find our focus completely, passive play and many errors were deciding. We faced Italy discreetly and today our tactics paid off a great result with a victory. We are not on shape but the team improving more and more makes me happy indeed. It was 20 years that the Netherlands have not taken part at the Olympics. An intense summer to be, indeed. Unfortunately, a more frequent turn-over is not possible, I don't have many players to train in turn. Nevertheless, we are going to try our upmost looking forward to Rio and enjoying all what is to come.
Laura Dijkema, Netherlands, player: We are very happy with this result. We earned 6 important points and this means we are still in the running for the Final Six. This win was not that easy, Thailand is a good team, on defense game especially. We hoped to do better against Russia, but we don't give up. We want to improve and are trying our upmost.
D. Sriwacharamaytakul, Thailand, coach: This match was a tough one as well. We faced another strong and motivated team. It was difficult to compete with Netherlands, they are great in block and attack. We started well, then we lost our focus and get discouraged. Although we did not achieve all what we expected, we tried our upmost.
A. Wilavan, Thailand, captain: We'll try to do better tomorrow against Italy, even if not playing on home soil is never so easy. Besides, Italy is really a strong side.