U22 women’s national team achieves historic feat for Portugal

This past weekend Portugal achieved something truly historic by qualifying for the Final Round of next year’s #EuroVolleyU22W following a 3-2 (26-24, 25-18, 21-25, 24-26, 20-18) victory over Ukraine. It was a tough battle lasting for more than two and a half hours, which ended in the best way for Portugal. The result accounts for the first ever appearance of a Portuguese team in the final round of a women’s age-group European Championship. 

After failing to capitalise on a 2-0 lead, Portugal secured an early advantage in the tiebreak (5-1). The Portuguese players, however, had to struggle to find a way through the tall Ukrainian block (14-14). The final moments were full of emotions, with the audience passionately rooting for Portugal. The hosts had to cancel several match points, before managing to seal the victory with the result of 20-18. Alice Clemente and Marisa Pardal, respectively with 30 and 27 points, ranked themselves as the best scorers of the game, while Mariia Kaplanska, with 19 points, was the Ukrainian player who scored the most points. 

In the end, the Portuguese coach João Santos highlighted: “It is perfectly normal, when a team plays on the limits, to experience a moment of decompression, like we had in the third set. We tried to prevent that from happening, but it was not easy, and the Ukrainians came in very well, with services that created a lot of difficulties for us. We were prepared for this, for an extremely competitive and balanced game. As a coach, I am very happy to have helped in this qualification. It is a privilege to be leading this team, especially for what they have been doing in the last two months. Already last year, we could have secured a spot in the [U21] European Championship. Now that we are in the final phase of the European Championship, we will try to win as many games as possible, and we will always fight for the victory regardless of the opponent.”