Bulgaria, Lithuania, Ukraine qualify for #EuroVolleyU16W Final Round!

Team Bulgaria was the first one in Pool D to earn a place in the Final Round of #EuroVolleyU16W as in their last match in the group they defeated Georgia 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-16). Later in the day, Lithuania beat Ukraine 3-0 as well (25-16, 25-14, 25-17), thereby securing their historic qualification for the Final Round too. Ukraine achieved the same feat after emerging as the third-placed team with the best result across all five qualifiers. 

After securing an important victory over the Lithuanians on Saturday, the young Lionesses from Bulgaria confidently completed their work in Druskininkai. Their coach Vladislav Todorov allowed the reserve players to test themselves, so the Georgian team was able to resist a little, but at the most important moments the advantage of the Bulgarian team was obvious. Krasimira Garova scored 12 points for the winners, as Ketevani Mtchedlishvili chipped in with 11 for the Georgian team.

“I am not satisfied with the team’s performance this weekend, but I am happy with the result. I think we should have won the first match against Ukraine. We just lost confidence in ourselves at one point. However, although the game was not good, the result satisfies us,” said Todorov. He added that qualifying for the European Championship finals is important not only for the whole country, but also for each coach and each player. It is also a great source of joy for the girls’ parents. “We will have to play better at the European Championship. We need more matches, so we hope that we will be able to play more before that,” he continued. 

Much to the joy of the home crowd, Lithuania finished the tournament with an impressive victory and achieved its dream goal - to reach the final stage of the European Championship. This team became only the second in the country’s history to reach the final round of a European Championship, as they repeated the success of the Lithuanian U18 girls from last year.

The hosts needed to win at least two sets against the Ukrainians to secure a ticket to the European Championship. Ukraine was the group leader with two victories, but Lithuania delivered a fantastic performance to secure a 3-0 victory (25-16, 25-14, 25-17). This allowed the home side to take second place in the group with two wins and six points. The Ukrainian team (five points) also qualified for the European Championship as the best third-placed team across all pools. 

The hosts started all three sets with a lead of several points. The Ukrainian team kept getting closer, but the highly motivated Lithuanians played the game almost without mistakes, not leaving any chances to their opponents. Gerda Jatkonytė scored 12 points for the Lithuanian team – as 11 points were contributed by Rusnė Šimanskytė. Olena Domashivets (11 points) was the most prolific player for the Ukrainians.

“After the last point, tears were pouring down. Some of us managed to control ourselves, some of us did not. The feeling is very good, because we worked hard all year long for this. The girls played wonderfully today, we managed to convince them that we could win. We knew that if we played better than yesterday and the day before, the result could be good for us,” said coach Gilbertas Kerpe. He emphasised that the failure against Bulgaria in the second match was due to many mistakes and incorrect decisions. “It was difficult to play with such a team, so decisions are not made so quickly. In addition, the Bulgarians pressured us all the time, and it was unusual and difficult for us. The Ukrainians are more suitable for us to play against. We had to stick to the game plan and we did just that.”