News Volleyball 30/05/2014 Germany claim first ever Montreux semifinal ticket Montreux, Switzerland, May 30, 2014 - European silver medallists Germany qualified for the first time for the semifinals of the Montreux Volley Masters after beating Japan 3-0 (25-15, 27-25, 25-16) on Friday. MargaretaKozuch (18 points) and her teammates overwhelmed Arisa Inoue (10 points) andthe Japanese.It was a game of all or nothing for Germany and Japan. Both had three points and the chanceto qualify for the semifinals. Germany’s coach Giovanni Guidetti wanted tomake history with his “Schmetterlinge” and claim for the first time in historya semifinal ticket for a German national team at the Montreux Volley Masters.The Germansstarted well and were able to put pressure on the Japanesedefence with a good diversity in the offensive game. The World Championship bronze medallists had to work hard as German setter Mareen Apitz played well. The silver medallists of the 2013 CEV European Championshipconstantly increased their lead and won the first set by 25-15.Japan had toreact in the second set if they wanted to stay in the race for the trophy.Masayoshi Manabe’s players fought for every ball and started to get kills bytheir quick offensive game. The set became more and more a fight between thetwo setters Germany’s Apitz and Japan’s Natsumi Fujita – with the better endfor the German as she made the decisive point to 27-25 by a beautiful tip.The world No. 3 had their back to the wall now. Germany took advantageof these insecurities and held the pace of the game high; a high 15-9 lead wasthe consequence. The Japanese mobilized their last power, but the Germans weretoo strong in their offensive game and couldn’t be blocked.The German national team claim for the first time in the history asemifinal ticket at the Montreux Volley Masters. Print this Page News {{item.LocalShortDate}} {{item.Title}} All the News