Slovenia come from behind to claim second win in Pool A

Even though they had beaten Latvia in straight sets earlier this year in the preliminary phase of the CEV Volleyball European League, Slovenia found themselves trailing 0-2 before they regrouped to sweep three sets in a row and secure their second victory in the CEV Trendyol EuroVolley 2026 Women Pool A in Istanbul. Latvia did really stand a fair chance – confirming once again that their return to the EuroVolley stage for the first time since 1997 is more than well-deserved. Later in the evening, hosts and Pool A leaders Türkiye play Germany in one of the most anticipated fixtures of the group stage in the Turkish Eurasian megalopolis. 

Slovenia vs. Latvia 3-2 (23-25, 19-25, 25-15, 25-13, 15-12) 

Slovenia had truly impressed at the start of the competition – but the silver medal winners from this year’s European League had very little time to recover both physically and emotionally from their heavy loss at the hands of Poland the night before. Slovenia’s head coach Alessandro Orefice admitted before the match that he was essentially up all night to prepare for the fixture with Latvia and that earlier in the morning his players only had what he called a short ‘activation session’ to stay in the rhythm without any actual training. Still, Slovenia came out blazing rushing to a 4-1 lead but it took only a very short time for Latvia to fight back and a very close battle unfolded until Anna Rita stamped a mighty block to secure the opening set for the Baltic nation (25-23). 

Latvia were again playing with absolute no pressure and as their head coach Daniele Capriotti emphasized in the pre-match interview, “it is essential to play with joy and enjoy the experience. Playing with joy is the right thing to do when engaging with Volleyball, and we feel privileged to represent Latvia here and to measure ourselves against such elite teams, including as many as four competing or due to compete in the Volleyball Nations League. Slovenia, as a rather small country and with the positive trajectory they have experienced over the last few years, are an example and role model for us to look up to,” he said. The Latvians continued to display this same attitude and joy also in the second set, thereby forcing a Slovenian timeout after they had edged ahead 10-8. Latvia continued to push, much to the delight of their fans in the stands, with Marta Kamelija Levinska and Paula Nikola Neciporuka (eight points in this set alone) as their main assets (25-19).   

However, the course of the match changed quite dramatically shortly afterwards. Slovenia regained their full composure and rhythm in a very one-sided third set where they did lead the way from start to end (8-3, 16-6, 25-15) with both Fatoumatta Sillah and their captain Saša Planinsec registering as many as seven points apiece. The fourth set was just a continuation of that trend – with Slovenia finally showing the quality and consistency that they had displayed in their previous matches in the group, especially when playing Germany, and Sillah closing it out with a crosscourt spike for a massive 25-13 score. 

Even though Sillah scored the first point of the tiebreak, Latvia responded with a run of five in a row, as the arena was getting more and more crowded ahead of the subsequent match between hosts Türkiye and Germany. Slovenia first closed within one point (5-6) and eventually edged ahead (10-7), much due to Latvia’s own unforced errors. The underdogs put up a fight until the very end but Slovenia eventually prevailed (15-12) with Maša Pucelj top scoring with 20 points followed by Planinšec (16), Lorena Lorber Fijok (14) and Sillah (13). Neciporuka tallied up the most points for Latvia with 20.