Türkiye and Italy compete for #EuroVolleyU18W title in Riga

Teams that know each other very well will compete for the title on Sunday at the #EuroVolleyU18W in Riga. In the semi-finals, Türkiye defeated Hungary 3-1 (25-22, 25-6, 27-29, 25-19), while Italy beat France 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-8). Both finalists have already spent a week and a half adjusting to the conditions and courts in Riga. This may have helped set the tone for their semi-final matches against teams that arrived in the Latvian capital from the group stage contested in neighbouring Lithuania.

Türkiye remain undefeated in Riga. After establishing a comfortable lead over Hungary in the first two sets, they saw the opponents claw one set back during a tense, nerve-wracking third set full of twists and turns. At a crucial moment, Aylin Uysalcan stepped up to lead the team, scoring 11 points in the fourth set alone to ensure the match did not become a contest again.

“It was a tough match, exactly the kind of game you would expect in a semi-final. In Volleyball, it often happens that a team squanders a 2-0 lead, so we focused hard on preventing that from happening here and ensuring the finish would not be so tense. I am glad we succeeded,” said Uysalcan. “The third set was a real rollercoaster. Points swinging back and forth, lots of challenges. It is good that we have experienced something like that, because that experience could come in handy for us tomorrow, too.”

The Turkish opposite scored 22 points from 44 attacks plus one block. Ezel Balik contributed 13 points, while Ecrin Selis Türkyasar added 10. For Hungary, Eszter Zsombok was the top scorer with 15 points.

Emma Szabados admitted she was saddened by the loss in the semi-final but satisfied that the team had made it this far: “Türkiye played amazingly, they have a very good team that deserved the win. Our coach allowed us five minutes to be sad, but after that, we have to focus on tomorrow’s game. We will try to finish the European Championship with a victory.”

The French team arrived in Riga as the winners of the Šiauliai group, but ran into an Italian ‘wall’ in the semi-final. In the first two sets, the Italians secured a decisive lead only in the closing stages, but by the third set, they dominated the court, allowing their opponents to score just eight points. “Italy has a very strong team. No matter how hard we tried to capitalise on our opportunities, they played better this time. It was difficult to handle the pressure. Italy is accustomed to matches of this level and magnitude, whereas this is only our second semi-final in CEV tournaments. Our opponents were simply stronger. We will try to secure third place against Hungary,” said Elena Sanchez.

She was her team’s top scorer with 11 points. Three players scored at least 10 points for Italy, with Anita Tessariol leading the way with 14 points. “It was a very good game. We played every point strongly, so I am proud of the team. We need to focus on the final because Türkiye is very strong, they have very tall players, but with our skill set, we can try to win,” Tessariol said after the match.

On the final day of the competition in Riga, Hungary and France will face off for the bronze medals at 15:00 local time. In their previous encounter in Šiauliai, France won in five sets 3-2 (28-26, 25-8, 21-25, 14-25, 15-11), but Hungary will be ready for a rematch.
It also took five sets to decide the winner of the finalists’ first matchup in Riga, with Türkiye prevailing 3-2 (27-25, 25-18, 20-25, 20-25, 15-11). Will the outcome be different in the decisive match for the European Championship gold medals? We will find out on Sunday at 18:00 local time during the final match scheduled in Riga!