Italy beat Poland to play Türkiye for EuroVolley gold and LA28 ticket

On Sunday, reigning Olympic and World champions Italy will play hosts Türkiye for #EuroVolleyW gold and a coveted ticket to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Even though they had a lapse of concentration and the quality of their performance dropped in the third set, the Azzurre still beat Poland 3-1 quite comfortably and will contest the EuroVolley gold medal match for the sixth time in their history. They have won the title three times this far – in 2007, 2009, and 2021. The CEV Trendyol EuroVolley 2026 Women will therefore reach its climax on Sunday at 7 pm local time in Istanbul with the sort of epilogue that many had anticipated – the grand finale featuring the two most dominant women’s national teams of the past few years. 

Poland vs. Italy 1-3 (19-25, 19-25, 25-21, 16-25) 

Italy and Poland had played each other for the last time at EuroVolley back in 2019 – curiously, that happened in Türkiye as well, when Italy beat the White-and-Reds 3-0 in Ankara in the bronze medal match. As they are on a 38-match positive streak in fixtures against European opposition, Italy enjoyed the status of pre-favourites, even more so as the reigning Olympic and World champions. However, Poland had improved with each match since the start of the competition and they were certainly not to be underestimated and ready to put up a fight. Following a rather unconvincing performance in their quarterfinal match with Sweden, Italy controlled the opening set from start to finish, well-paced by Paola Egonu with eight points, including six spikes on a 60% success rate. 

After trailing early in the second set, Poland fought back to level the score at 10-all. Julio Velasco was able to secure a prompt response from his side and a spike by Myriam Sylla moved the score to 16-12 in favour of his team to prompt a Polish time-out. The Azzurre looked confident and relaxed as they imposed their rule on the game and progressively extended their advantage (19-12) with a couple of mighty blocks. Poland replaced Magdalena Stysiak with Julia Szczurowska and managed to reduce the deficit but the set ended 25-19 for Italy on a lucky ace without any major scare. 

Almost 7,000 fans had stayed for the second semi-final to find out who would challenge hosts Türkiye in the gold medal match. However, Italy’s business was far from finished as Poland stormed to a 6-2 lead in set 3 propelled by Szczurowska. A timely break asked by Velasco helped Italy regroup (7-5) and the team captained by Anna Danesi finally caught up with their opponents at 9-all on a 3-m line fault by Szczurowska. As Poland edged again ahead at 15-10, they were cheered on by the audience, with the fans hoping that this semi-final would last longer than three sets. Even while trailing, Italy did not lose their composure and mounted a comeback that resulted in the score almost levelled at 18-17 before Poland responded by scoring the next three points in a row. Spurred on by the audience, the White-and-Reds had five set balls at 24-19 and Szczurowska deservedly closed it out for her side at 25-21 – her seventh point in the set. 

Italy’s march resumed early in the fourth set (5-1) but Szczurowska remained a real force to reckon with for Poland (6-5). The Azzurre were determined to avoid the risks associated with a tiebreaker and pushed as hard as they could (11-7, 15-9) especially with their serve and block. They did not look back anymore as they sealed a 25-16 win to secure they remain in contention for the fourth gold in their history. Paola Egonu top scored with 20 points followed by Ekaterina Antropova (14) and Anna Danesi (13). Szczurowska registered 15 for Poland in a very remarkable effort.