Athens, Greece, May 14, 2008 –The Australian men’s team is now in Greece to play three matches against the Greece team in preparation for the 2008 Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan.

In the first match with Greece team, Australia outplayed their strong opponents to register a straight sets victory 3-0 (25-22,25-20, 25-20) in Athens, on May 13. Australia produced probably the lowest error percentage ever for the National Team, against an opponent of standing, with just 7%, over the entire match. Though Greece made concerted efforts to fight back in the match, the Australians never looked back and was “up for the challenge”, winning the match. Roberts got the highest 18 points of the team.

On May14, Australia played their second match against Greece in the best of three series. Unfortunately, The Australians lost to Greece 0-3 (21-25, 21-25, 22-25) as the team was unable to capitalise on their chances. Nathan Roberts topped scored for Australia with 12 points.

The series is now levelled at 1-all with the final match to be played tomorrow before the team heads over to Slovakia and continues on their preparation tour for the Olympic Qualification Tournament.

Before they came to Greece, The Australian team engaged in five matches against Argentina Men’s Volleyball Team from May 5 to 9 in Argentina. The visiting team won only one match.

The Results:

Match 1- Australia defeated Argentina 3-1 (24-26, 25-22, 25-17, 25-21)

Match 2 – Australia lost to Argentina 0-3 (16-25, 18-25, 7-25)

Match 3 – Australia lost to Argentina 1-3 (34-36, 25-23, 10-25, 18-25)

Match 4 – Australia lost to Argentina 1-3 (22-25, 25-18, 25-27, 15-25)

Match 5 – Australia lost to Argentina 2-3 (28-26, 21-25, 21-25, 30-28, 10-15)