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The Romanian national team qualified, on Sunday, in the quarterfinals of the Under-18 Women's World Volleyball Championship, which takes place in Durango (Mexico), after defeating the Slovakian team with the score of 3 -2 (21-25, 25-22, 16-25, 25-21, 15-11).
The tricolors coached by Marius Macarie won dramatically after two hours and 6 minutes, returning from 0-1 and 1-2 in sets.
Paula Partnoi (16 points), Stefania Cheluta (14), Tara Cristea (13) and Teodora Iancu (11) stood out from the Romanian team. The best of the opposing team were Radka Haskova, with 21 points, and Klara Jozekova, 14 points.
The captain of the Romanian team, Lidia Partnoi, declared that the match was a ''crazy one, with a lot of emotions". "We started the match well, but then we lost our focus and things got complicated. It's important that we win and move on. We were very determined and we played as a team, helping each other and I think that in the end it made a difference," Partnoi underscored.
For his part, coach Marius Macarie commented on the match with Slovakia: "I am very proud of my team. I knew Slovakia would be a difficult opponent, but it was our day. I think some of the changes made in set four were very good and put Slovakia in trouble. In set five, it's about details every time and you need luck to win.'.
In the quarterfinals, Romania will play against Italy, which beat Canada 3-0 (25-10, 25-10, 25-13). The match will take place on Monday night to Tuesday, at 01:30, Romanian time.
Lidia Partnoi also referred to the quarterfinals with Italy: "We lost to Italy at last year's European Championship and we want to do better now and show how much progress we have made since then."
Macarie considers that "Italy is a strong team, but after such a match, anything is possible". "It will be difficult, but we will give everything we can to get the victory," the Romanian coach concluded, Agerpres informs.
