Bulgaria through to #EuroVolleyU17M semis

On Wednesday, the national team of Montenegro lost to Bulgaria in straight sets (25-16, 25-12, 25-12) in the sixth round of the U17 European Championship in Podgorica. The undefeated Bulgarians have secured a place in the semi-finals of the European Championship.

In the first set, Bulgaria gained an advantage that forced Montenegrin head coach Darko Prebiracevic to two early time-outs, however, Dessislava Velichkova's team continued its dominance to seal the set at 25-16. The situation was similar in the second and third sets, where the Bulgarian selection won without problems with a score of 25-12 and with this victory the young Lions have secured a place among the four best teams in the tournament. Opposite hitter Luka Lojić stood out with 11 points for Montenegro, as on the other side of the net Viktor Mladenov scored nine times. 

In Pool I, Austria beat Estonia 3-1 (25-17, 25-20, 17-25, 26-24) and registered its third victory, Belgium beat Greece 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 26-24, 25-20) to improve their win-loss record to 4-2, and Slovenia celebrated their third victory following a 3-1 triumph over Türkiye (25-22, 18-25, 25-20, 25-22).

In Pool II, Spain easily beat Finland 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-21) for their fifth victory – they have lost only to Italy this far. Serbia beat the Netherlands 3-0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-20) for their second victory, and Poland also took maximum points from their matchup with France winning 3-0 (25-17, 27-25, 25-15) to register their fifth triumph as well. Italy remained undefeated in this group, winning in the sixth round against Czechia by 3-1.