Porec, Croatia, July 4, 2015 - Czech Republic record the first victory in 2015 World Grand Prix edition in pool J, defeating hosting team Croatia 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-19). Team's good disposition on serve put the pressure on Croatia and
Tereza Vanzurova led the team in attack, scoring 14 points.
Czech take the early lead by 8-4 thanks to good disposition of Mlejnkova at the service line. Havelkova increases the lead to 6 points forcing coach Vercesi to take the time out for Croatia. The hosting team strike back after the second technical time out chasing the score to 17-21, but Czech keep dominating on court and an ace by Havelkova close the set 25-17.
Second set open with a tough fight point by point until 4-4, but Czech take the first lead before the technical time-out. Croatia can't bare the pressure on serve and at the net, so first substitutions take place - Ivona Cacic change Jaksetic. This doesn't give much improvement to Croatia's game and Czech lead 16-8 at the second technical time out. Single successful actions of Sasic and Senna are not enough to stand up against the opponent and Czech Republic win the second set 25-19.
Senna open the third set with a powerful spike, but Czech fire back scoring 4 points in a row and Coach Vercesi calls the early time out. Break works for Croatia and team evens the score at 7-7 and take the first lead at the technical time out by 8-7. Match continues point by point until Havelkova takes Czech 12-9 ahead, keeping the lead until the second technical time out. Vanzurova remain Czech's biggest weapon in the end, wrapping up the third set 25-19.
To see the match gallery, read the full match live commentary and post-match comments, visit the
match page.