Croatia become the first finalists of this year’s Golden European League, after beating Spain in a four-set clash. Both teams met in the first semi-final of the day, but Croatia established dominance across significant part of the game and will be fighting for the gold medal on Sunday.

Croatia began the match with significant dominance, extending the gap from 5-6 to 10-16 and finishing the set with over twice as many points as the Spanish side. Croatians led in block, scoring 5 points while Spain didn’t gain any points in this element in the opening part.
Spain hit back from the beginning of the second set, taking the similar point advantage that Croatia had in the previous set. Led by Ana Escamilla, who emerged as the top scorer after this set, the Spanish team soon jumped to a 16-7 lead that expanded into 21-9, giving Croatia no room to bounce back. Spain made the score even, winning the second set 25-10.

The third set turned to be more competitive on both sides of the net as both teams fought point by point. Slowly Croatia worked towards establishing a lead that eventually turned into a 11-16 gap. Spain attempted to decrease the point difference, coming as close as 17-21, but Croatia claimed the third set at 18-25.

The fight became even tighter in the fourth set, as neither team managed to get a significant lead over their opponent. Croatia pushed towards the end of the set and soon led 18-22, but Spain hit back and decreased the gap to 21-23, forcing Croatia to call a time out. The break did not help Croatians, as Spain followed with another point coming as close as 22-23. Croatia followed with a point that gave them the first match point of the semi-final. Spain managed to defend Croatia’s first match points but an error on their side helped Croatia to close the match and become the first finalist of the Golden European League.

• Samanta Fabris became the top scorer of the match with 23 points

• On the Spanish side Maria Segura Palleres scored 18 points for Spain

• Spain scored more from the service line collectively, gaining 6 aces. Croatia had 3 aces, all scored by Laura Milos

• Croatia had a significant lead in block, scoring 12 points, while Spain only scored 2 blocks 

• Beta Dumancic was the best blocker with 4 points

Pascual Saurin, coach of Spain: “Croatia is a very strong team. They served very well. We equalised in the second part, but this was not enough. Martina Samadan of Croatia was the difference between both sides, she played brilliantly. My goal is to win the game for the third place. I always force my players to give their best.”

Daniele Santarelli, coach of Croatia: “It was a very hard game. The women’s volleyball is something special. We played perfectly in the first part. Then we lost the second. We won the third one. The fourth was a nervous play. It was very important to reach the final – for the team and the federation. Tomorrow we need to show more qualities. Bulgaria are the favourites, but the Czech Republic are strong too.”