Christopher McHugh, Australia – “It’s our first game in a great venue. Austria Volleyball Federation and the Major Series always put on a great tournament and this one is no different. We have a tough pool Italy, the silver medalists (in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics) next which is a tough one. It’s always good to start with a win as that takes some of the mental pressure off and let you free up mentally. Damien sided out great today, and it was good to tough it out.”
Damien Schumann, Australia – “We know the Russians very well even though they are young. They beat Alison and Bruno (of Brazil) last week in Poland. They are very good so we are happy to get the win. It doesn’t get any easier with Italy next. We had a really close game with them in Russia (three-set win by Italy). Anything can happen any day you just have to go for it. We’ll rest and learn what we can from this game and try and tighten it up for the next game.”
Oleg Stoyanovskiy, Russia – “We are young so the one match a day doesn’t matter for us. We need to play better mentally. We were too nervous in the first game.”