#EuroVolleyU16W gold goes to Russia, Italy and Bulgaria complete podium
News
On Sunday, Russia completed a clean sweep of their matches at this year’s #EuroVolleyU16W to triumph with the gold medals in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary. Russia beat Italy 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-21, 25-16) in a competitive and entertaining gold medal game – however the Azzurrine failed to match the physical and technical prowess of their rivals. It is Russia’s first European title in this age group – to go with the silver and bronze medals claimed by older generations of players in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Earlier in the afternoon, Iva Dudova scored an amazing 41 points to help Bulgaria come back from two sets down and secure the bronze medal.
Gold medal match
Russia vs. Italy 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-21, 25-16)
Russia recorded their seventh straight victory in Nyiregyhaza – adding to their tally the success in the most important match of the week, the gold medal game with Italy. To emphasise their supremacy in the competition, we may recall that Russia dropped only three sets throughout the whole tournament – two in their pool match with Turkey and the set they conceded to Italy on Sunday evening.
Russia outscored Italy on all fronts, including aces and blocks, as four of their players finished the match in double digits, with Polina Kovaleva leading the way on 24, followed by Marina Asliamova (18), Veronika Eremeeva (11) and Elizaveta Pavlova (10). Erika Esposito and Linda Manfredini (10) were the only Italian players to achieve the same feat.
This success confirms that the future looks bright for Russian women’s Volleyball, since this country had claimed gold at last year’s #EuroVolleyU17W in Podgorica, Montenegro, as well.
Bronze medal match
Bulgaria vs. Turkey 3-2 (21-25, 20-25, 25-10, 25-20, 15-6)
With another impressive performance of their opposite hitter, Iva Dudova, who scored an amazing 41 points, Bulgaria came back from two sets down and changed the course of the bronze medal match. The young Lionesses regrouped and delivered a truly spectacular turnaround as they dominated the third set as well as the tiebreak to secure the second bronze medal for their country in this age group. Four years ago, when Sofia hosted the very first edition of #EuroVolleyU16W, Bulgaria had finished third as well. Much credit for this victory goes to Dudova, whose personal tally of 41 points in this match includes three blocks and five aces. She finishes the tournament as the top scorer of the competition on 179 points – 36 clear of Serbia’s Ana Mihajlovic.
Classification match 5-6
Poland vs. Serbia 2-3 (25-20, 24-26, 25-12, 23-25, 9-15)
Serbia came back from a 1-2 deficit and 13-17 in the fourth set to claim a thrilling five setter against Poland. Therefore, the young Serbians finished the competition in fifth place, one place higher than they did two years ago at the last edition of the championship in Croatia and Italy. Team Poland had travelled to Humenné from Nyiregyhaza for the final weekend of competition. It was Poland’s first final round participation in this age category. Outside hitter Ana Mihajlovic was the best scorer of the match with 26 points for Serbia, as Anna Fiedorowicz collected 20 for Poland.
Ana Mihajlovic“We started very bad, and we seemed to miss energy and emotions. However, we played with our hearts and that is the reason that we won. Poland is a very good team, they fought to the last second and we congratulate them. We were close to reaching the semi-final, we missed it by one set and we are sad for that, but after that, we wanted to finish as high as we could. We are sure that we will win something later in our careers.”
Outside hitter of Serbia
Classification match 7-8
Slovakia vs. Hungary 0-3 (20-25, 20-25, 18-25)
The first two sets of this match featuring the two co-hosts of the championship were very close, but the visitors from Hungary had more energy and skills at the end. The young Slovakian girls tried to come back and to make their loud fans happy, but the Hungarian team was better and deservedly won the match for the seventh place. The best scorers were the outside hitter from Slovakia Michaela Kánová (17 points) and opposite Mirtill Eröss for Hungary with 14. It was the first participation for both teams in the final round of #EuroVolleyU16W.
Michaela Kánová“We fought, but we made too many mistakes. Without so many errors in attack, we probably could have won. Overall, I think that we can be satisfied with this result, because we missed many competition months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Without any opportunity to compete, it was hard for us to play at this level. We had a great and long preparation for this tournament, we played our first international matches and I hope that we will take a lot from this experience to develop further.”
Outside hitter of Slovakia
Dream Team
MVP: Marina Asliamova (RUS)
Setter: Polina Sarapova (RUS)
Middle blockers: Linda Manfredini (ITA), Maia Carlotta Monaco (ITA)
Outside hitters: Erika Esposito (ITA), Polina Kovaleva (RUS)
Opposite hitter: Iva Dudova (BUL)
Libero: Olesia Ananina (RUS)