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National Team News
Pool A in Vilvoorde (BEL)
The competition in Pool A at the Eurovolley Centre in Vilvoorde started with a marathon match where the young Yellow Tigers eventually secured a 3-2 victory over Belarus (22-25, 25-18, 25-16, 14-25, 25-13) after 94 minutes of action. Home stars Kaat Cos and Pauline Luyten scored as many as 29 and 21 points, respectively, in the process as Yana Komarova and Sviatlana Savitskaya registered 17 apiece for Belarus.
Pool B in Sofia (BUL)
Estonia claimed a 3-1 victory (25-17, 25-20, 19-25, 27-25) over their neighbours from Finland in the matchup that got action underway in Pool B at Hristo Botev hall in Sofia. With this result, Estonia seem ready to challenge hosts Bulgaria for first place in the group and a ticket to the Final Round. Estonia imposed their rule in the two opening sets before Finland fought back to claim the third one. The fourth set was the most thrilling and entertaining one – with the Finns leading 21-18 before Estonia eventually prevailed at 27-25.
Nikolas Balthasar Buser, head coach of Finland: “We started very nervously, but we played more solidly in the second part of the match. One of our players suffered an injury and this motivated the rest of the group. The third set was brilliant but we needed a little more luck to turn the match around. I am proud of my players and of what they did today.”
Raigo Tatrik“We are very happy with this victory. The match was very tough. We had a 2-0 lead and wanted to make it 3-0 – my girls are real heroes since Finland were close to tying the match in the fourth set. Tomorrow we will play Bulgaria. Our goal is to finish first in the pool.”
Pool D in Walbrzych (POL)
The competition started on Friday also in Pool D – where Poland and the Netherlands lived up to their status of pre-favourites as they stormed to comprehensive 3-0 victories over their respective opponents, i.e. Lithuania and France. Their clash on Sunday is very much likely to determine who finishes first in the pool and will punch a ticket to the #EuroVolleyU16W Finals in Hungary and Slovakia.
Pool E in Maribor (SLO)
Turkey improved their win-loss record in Maribor to 2-0 after edging Portugal 3-1. Actually, Portugal caught their opponents by surprise as the underdogs claimed a 17-14 lead in the first set and eventually took it by 25-22. Turkey responded well, edging ahead 11-8 in the second set, before Portugal recorded a 7-1 run to flip the charts around and lead 15-12. After a time-out, Turkey regrouped and after a real battle, they had the upper hand at 26-24. A neck-and-neck race unfolded in the early stages of the third set, before Turkey broke away at 18-14 and took it 25-16. Turkey were in full control in set four (13-8, 16-9) and despite two timeouts asked by the Portuguese coach, the young ‘Sultans of the Net’ did not look back anymore and sealed their 3-1 victory at 25-17.
Hosts Slovenia will battle with Turkey for first place in the pool after they beat Austria 3-0. After trailing 5-9 in the first set, Slovenia drew level at 17-all and won the most important points to secure a 26-24 set win. The second set was another close affair before Slovenia showed more composure in the deciding moments to claim a 25-22 win. Despite having to come from behind, Slovenia won the third set as well (25-22) to get the right to battle with Turkey on Saturday for first place in the group and a ticket to the Final Round.