ISTANBUL Gençlik grab BVA Cup and ticket to CEV Challenge Cup
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Turkish side ISTANBUL Gençlik SK survived very tight first and third sets to sweep hosts AO KALAMATA 1980 of Greece, finishing undefeated at the 2026 BVA Men’s Cup contested at this same seaside city of the southern Peloponnese. The Balkan Cup gold medal comes along with a ticket to this season’s CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup. Their opponent in the 32nd Finals will be Israel’s Maccabi Yeadim TEL-AVIV.
Led by tournament MVP Dick Kooy, ISTANBUL Gençlik SK shut out AO KALAMATA 1980 3-0 (30-28, 25-19, 26-24) in the closing match of the four-team round-robin tournament, which had taken on the shape of a final.
It took ISTANBUL Gençlik SK a total of four set points, while in-between cancelling two of the hosts, to take the first set, with neither team at any point leading by more than two points. Then again in the third set AO KALAMATA 1980 pushed their rivals all the way and cancelled the Turks’ first match point, before Dutch-Italian Kooy served an ace to clinch the game.
Angelos Markou delivered the match high (indeed, tournament high) of 20 points, including 55% (18/33) in attack from the outside, but it was not enough for the home side. Hungarian Krisztian Padar scored 16 and Kooy added another 14 for ISTANBUL Gençlik SK, who were overall more powerful on the block (10 stuffs to five) and controlled the ball in reception.
Earlier in the day, VC Metalurg-PERNIK of Bulgaria outlasted Kosovo’s KV Luboteni FERIZAJ 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-20) to secure third place in the four-team tournament and earn the bronze medal.
Luboteni led the score throughout the second set, but Metalurg made a strong push at the end, including a 6-1 run from 19-21 down, to extend their lead on a clean slate.
Metalurg coach Francesco Mollo brought on all of his subs in the second and third sets as Konstantin Manolev with 11 points and Luboslav Simeonov with 10 led the scoring. However, it was Luboteni’s Rigon Bajrami and Colombian Ronnie Mosquera Galvis who shared the match high of 13 points each.
Luboteni applied some pressure from the service line, but Metalurg were most efficient all around.