Nagoya, Japan, October 10, 2018 - Maren Fromm and Louisa Lippmann combined for a potent 1-2 punch, each scoring 25 points, as Germany downed Puerto Rico in 3-1 (25-23, 27-25, 29-27, 25-22) in the second round of the FIVB Women's World Championship on Wednesday night and the German coach said his players believed in themselves.
Germany coach Felix Koslowski: It was a great fight tonight. I'm even more happy that we could win 3-1 against a team that was defending like that. The players always believed that we could win the match.
Puerto Rico coach Jose Mieles: Our players moved in a way that we discussed in our meetin. We were able to fight point by point. In third set the referees made calls that I didn't agree with. It was unfortunate in an event as big as this. Without those mistakes we could have been able to get a fifth set.
Germany captain Maren Fromm: We are really happy to get the three points. It is hard to play against a defensive team. We came back in the third set and that made the difference.
Puerto Rico captain Natalia Valentin: It is a bittersweet feeling. We have been looking for rhythm in this tournament and we finally found it today. The bad calls from the referees were unfortunate. It was frustrating. Germany did a good job and found their game.