Playing in front of the Apeldoorn fans was a real pleasure for the Dutch team
Apeldoorn, Netherlands, July 7, 2017 – The Dutch team is pleased to be back in Apeldoorn and play well in front of the home crowd. This is part of what the coach and the captain of the Netherlands said after the World Grand Prix 3-0 victory over the Dominican Republic.
Jamie Morrison, coach of Netherlands: "In May we played two friendly matches at home against Italy, and that already gave me a good impression of how it is to play for the Dutch crowd. But today, in my first major tournament in the Netherlands, it was even better. We started well today, and we are capable of winning this pool if we play well."
Maret Balkestein-Grothues, captain of Netherlands: "We started with a 3-0 victory in this 2017 edition of the FIVB World Grand Prix, so we could not have done better. In my opinion, we can improve our game in the upcoming days, but this was a good match to start. This was the first time we returned to this venue since our successful European Championship in 2015. It is very good to be back in Apeldoorn."
Marcos Kwiek, coach of Dominican Republic: "I think we could have played better than we did tonight. Our game plan was to serve with a lot of pressure, and in parts of the first and the third sets we succeeded in this. At the decisive moments our serving and attacking was not good enough though."
Niverka Dharlenis Marte Frica, player of Dominican Republic: "In this post-Olympic year a lot of teams are changing players. That is why it is hard to predict how strong a team is. Our aim for this World Grand Prix is to improve our result from last year."