Belgium stay undefeated in Baku, Portugal celebrate first EuroVolley win

Belgium handed hosts Azerbaijan their first defeat of CEV Trendyol EuroVolley 2026, themselves remaining undefeated on a 4-0 win-loss record to top the current Pool C standings. Portugal celebrated their first victory of the tournament. In Wednesday’s opening Pool C match in Baku, they came back from a set down to beat Spain in four and stay well in contention for the fourth place, which guarantees a ticket to the eighthfinals. Although still winless, Spain also saved small mathematical chances to earn that ticket.

Pool C: Spain v Portugal 1-3 (26-24, 23-25, 19-25, 20-25)

Spain took an early 8-3 lead and even extended it to 17-11 before Portugal started mounting their comeback and finally caught up at 23-23. Portugal denied Spain’s first set point to prompt overtime, but on the second, they sent the ball out of bounds to let the opponent win the set by 26-24.

The second set was almost a mirror image of the first. Portugal stepped up their performance in serving and blocking to stay in control, opening a gap as wide as eight points, but after 20-12, Spain attempted a comeback, which stopped just short of succeeding. They denied the triple set point Portugal had at 24-21 twice before spiking the ball out of bounds to hand Portugal a 25-23 set win.

The third set went back and forth until 13-11 Spain’s way, when Portugal, having greatly reduced the number of unforced errors, broke away with an 8-1 run and never looked back. Outside hitter Ana Monteiro, who was not among the match starters, but joined the main seven on the court for the second set, led the Portuguese team towards a convincing 25-19 close, which she personally shaped up with a successful swing for the set winner.

With Monteiro continuing to spearhead the Portuguese attack, while the team greatly improved its blocking performance, especially with middle Amanda Cavalcanti raising three of their six stuffs in the fourth set, Portugal continued to dominate throughout the set. Spain tried fighting back and even caught up momentarily in the score at 16-16, but it was too late to stop an inspired Portugal. Monteiro brought in match point with a spike kill for 24-19, and Cavalcanti converted it to a 25-20 win with a speedy attack through the middle.

Ana Monteiro and opposite Julia Kavalenka led Portugal with 19 points apiece, while the other outside – Alice Clemente – finished with 13. Her Spanish counterpart Ana Escamilla emerged as the best scorer of the match with 22 points to her name. Opposite Julia De Paula Viana put away another 15. 

Pool C: Belgium v Azerbaijan 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-23)

With five points in a row, Belgium ran off with an 8-3 lead, a blow Azerbaijan could no longer recover from through the rest of the first set. Spearheaded by opposite Pauline Martin, the Belgian offense was working like a well-oiled machine. Azerbaijan reacted with some solid serving and blocking, especially during a five-point run with sub-in Jeyran Imanova behind the serving line, which fired up the crowd in the stands with three aces and brought the home team back to within two at 17-15. Belgium, however, would allow no more. Martin’s powerful block-out hit for 24-19 and sub-in outside hitter Nel Demeyer’s kill for 25-19 put an end to the set.

In the second set, outside hitters Britt Herbots and Yelizaveta Ruban engaged in a scoring contest to make it much more competitive. Belgium had control of the scoreboard for most of the set, but an inspired Azerbaijan managed to catch up at 22-22 in the money time. However, Belgium took the next three points to double their lead. Once again, the 24th point came on a successful swing by Martin. This time, Herbots converted it to a 25-22 win with an ace.

The third set was the most interesting of the three. With Ruban on fire, Azerbaijan started strong and opened up an 18-10 lead. Belgium, however, had their minds set on closing the match in three. A series of points on outside Tea Radovic’s serving turn brought them back into the set, and another long run with sub-in Liese Verhelst behind the end line led to a 23-20 Belgian lead. Herbots delivered a 24-21 match point with a kill in attack. Two rallies down the road, Verhelst ended it all with an elegant tip for 25-23.

Britt Herbots contributed a match-high 22 points to Belgium’s victory. Her tally included two kill blocks and an ace. Pauline Martin added another 16, while middle Britt Fransen impressed with five kill blocks towards an eight-point total. Yelizaveta Ruban and Polina Rahimova were Azerbaijan’s leading scorers with 19 and 11 points, respectively.

Thursday’s seventh competition day in Pool C will feature the Netherlands against Belgium at 15:30 local time, and Portugal against Romania at 18:30.