Sweden come from behind to claim first semi-final round

It took a marathon match lasting more than two hours for Sweden to edge Hungary in the first round of the CEV Volleyball European League 2026 women’s semis contested on Saturday afternoon in Kecskemét. Even though home favourite Anett Németh top scored with 35 points, three more than the opponent’s superstar Isabelle Haak, Sweden eventually had the upper hand at the tiebreak to keep their perfect record in the competition. 

Both teams had registered six wins in as many matches they had contested in the League Round. Sweden caught a promising start to the match, claiming the opening set (25-21), but Hungary regrouped swiftly from this initial setback to assert their supremacy in the second (25-18) and especially in the third set (25-14), where the home side looked truly dominant. They stayed in control for much of the fourth set as well leading all the way to 21-19; however, at this stage Sweden mounted a terrific comeback and scored six of the subsequent seven points to take the match to a fifth set. This was a blow that Hungary never recovered from as Sweden set the tempo of the match from start to end of the tiebreak (15-12), thereby sealing a 3-2 victory and securing an edge ahead of the re-match scheduled for July 1 in Örebro. 

Sweden stood out in blocking, recording 11 stuffs, including three in the fifth set alone. Isabelle Haak scored 32 points, with her sister Anna emerging as the only other Swedish player to finish the match in double digits (13). Apart from Németh, Hungary could count on an impressive contribution from Lilla Kiss, who chipped in with 17 points of her own, including three aces.

“What a thriller! It was really up and down, both in terms of Volleyball and emotions. But when it really mattered, we pushed on – you could almost see it in each other’s eyes: now we are going out there with a boom. I really think we stepped up when it was needed, and it was a great team effort. It’s hard to say exactly what made the difference; it felt like it could have gone either way. But I think that when it came to the fifth set, we were the hungrier team. Like: now we are here to show what we can do. It felt like they did not quite have that same hunger in the fifth set, and we got into a good flow, which made it hard for them to catch up. Even though they almost came back at the end, we managed to finish it off nicely,” said Gun Hindgren, middle blocker of Sweden. 

“I have to say that we made a few mistakes at the beginning of the match, but from the middle of the first set onwards we started to raise our level. We played really well, the team showed the right attitude and played with confidence and freedom. I am very happy with our performance, but at the same time I am very disappointed with the result because we created a real opportunity to win the match 3-1. To be honest, I am also thinking about the FIVB World Ranking. A victory today would have earned us valuable ranking points and represented a big step towards World Championship qualification. Unfortunately, we let that opportunity slip away because of a few moments of inattention and some mistakes of our own. So yes, I am disappointed with the result, but not with my team or with our performance. I am proud of the way we played today, even if the final outcome leaves us disappointed,” said Hungary head coach Alessandro Chiappini. 

Everything remains to play for next Wednesday – as Sweden will need to win at home as well to seal their spot in the grand finale. A win by any score for Hungary would result in a Golden Set to be played. The other semi-final features League Round winners Slovenia and Slovakia.