Estonia is the winner of the Silver #EuroLeagueW
Recap
The winner of the Women’s 2023 CEV Volleyball European Silver League is Estonia! After a thrilling match against Austria, it was Estonia who secured the title and the gold medals. In the bronze medal match, Portugal took the medal after a well-deserved win. Let's start from the beginning!
Gold Medal Match, Estonia vs Austria: 3-2 (31-33, 25-11, 13-25, 25-12, 15-12)
The first set of this match showed to the audience and to those watching in front of the television that this is going to be one of the craziest volleyball matches. It started off with the Austrian domination (4-10) and although it looked like an “easy” set, it definitely wasn’t. Estonia had their mini-series of points (from 9-13 to 14-14) and completely equalized the match. Austria again went into the lead (16-21) and they were just a few points away from taking this set. But that wasn’t the case because Estonia equalized once again with 24-24! And then a real show began. They were playing point-by-point up until 31-33 when Austria closed the set.
In the second set, we witnessed a decrease in the concentration and energy of the Austrian team. Estonia already had a seven-point advantage (10-3) and it continued to grow. There wasn’t much Austria could have done so the set ended by 25-11. And then the exact same thing happened in the third set, but this time it was Estonia who was suffering and Austria was the one who was scoring. They managed to close the set with a twelve-point advantage (13-25).
Estonia showed all of its strength in the fourth set where they went into a big lead pretty soon (10-4 and then 13-5). The advantage only grew and they closed this set by 25-12. Both teams wanted that trophy and both teams were fighting really hard for it in the last set. In the end, it was Estonia who with 15-12 took the trophy, the title, and the gold medals! Congratulations!
Bronze Medal Match, Portugal vs Montenegro: 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-23)
The match for the third place and bronze medal brought its own excitement. The first set was completely equal but Portugal was instilling confidence and it looked as if this set is going to go on their side. They had a nice three-point lead (17-14) but Montenegro got back in the game and with 23-25 took the set.
The second set was quite similar to the first one whereas it was completely played point-by-point. Only this time Portugal didn’t let their small advantage slip away and they closed the set by 25-21. Portugal changed their game in the third set and there wasn’t a point in the set where they weren’t in the lead, from the first until the last point.
The last set was looking like the first two and Montenegro was fighting hard because they knew that this is their last chance of getting that bronze medal. Unfortunately, it did not work for them and Portugal closed the set by 25-23 and the celebration started!