Sofia, Bulgaria, April 17, 2018.  The strong team of Italy remain unbeaten in Pool II of the #EuroVolleyU17W and have virtually qualified to the semis of the competition with four victories out of four matches in the group stage. The players headed by Marco Mencarelli  needed only 61 minutes to claim a straight 3-0 win over Ukraine, who continue their campaign at the tournament without a single win. Turkey and Germany will be fighting for the second place in the Pool, as in the direct clash between these teams the Turks took a 3-2 win over their opponents and this way made the situation in the group very interesting. However, Germany managed to take one very important point from this match. The last match in Pool II put an end to a great day of Volleyball moments with another tiebreaker. The teams of Romania and the Netherlands delivered another five setter with high speed Volleyball and with Romania eventually able to celebrate their first win in the tournament.

Italy vs. Ukraine 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-12)

•    Italy opened Day 4 in Pool II at #EuroVolleyU17W with a comfortable 3-0 win against Ukraine.
•    The girls coached by Marco Mencarelli controlled the game from the beginning and secured their place in the semi-finals after spending just 61 minutes on the court.
•    Loveth Oghosasere Omoruyi and Sara Cortella were the most prolific players for the winners with 14 and 10 points respectively.
•     For Ukraine Marta Fedyk finished the match with seven points.

Marco Mencarelli, head coach of Italy: “Today we played a little bit bad. I don’t know the reason, maybe we didn’t have enough concentration, because it was an easy match for us. Tomorrow we will play against Germany. It will be a really important match for the final standing and the first place in the Pool.”  

Viktor Perebyynis, head coach of Ukraine: “Italy was just the better team today and totally deserved to win. They didn’t let us play and we lost 0-3.”

Turkey vs. Germany 3-2 (25-12, 25-22, 22-25, 25-27, 17-15)

•    With great serving and without any mistakes Turkey dominated the opening set and won it at a canter (25-12).
•    Germany started to play better in the second part and Jens Tietböhl’s girls stayed close in the result but led by Sude Hacimustafaoğlu, who contributed 14 points in the first two sets, the Turkish players managed to finish the long rallies and took it by 25-22.
•    Despite the result from the second set, Germany continued to play better and better. Sina Stöckmann did a great job in attack in the last rallies and the Germans won the third set by 25-22.
•    The fourth set was really dramatic. Turkey had a match point but with great efforts in defense, the players around Jens Tietböhl made an amazing comeback and extended the match to a tiebreak after a 27-25 win.
•    In the final set, Germany showed great character. Sude Hacimustafaoğlu scored four aces in a row and Turkey had a comfortable advantage by 14-10. Despite this, with an amazing team work the Germans came back into the game and made it 15-15 but in the end the players coached by Bülent Gunes managed to survive and claimed the third and maybe most important victory in Pool II at #EuroVolleyU17W.
•    Sude Hacimustafaoğlu finished as top scorer putting 21 points to her name. Sabire Karacaova added 18 for the winners.
•    For Germany Iane Henke scored 20.

Bülent Gunes, head coach of Turkey: “My team showed great discipline in the first two sets, but in the third we lost focus and made too many mistakes in reception. In the fourth we tried to play better but we missed a match point and Germany was back in the game. Tie-breaks are always difficult. We had an advantage by 13-7 but the Germans weren’t giving up. They managed to put us under pressure but we passed the test. Now it is time to rest and tomorrow we will think about our last match. We must prepare well and if everything is okay we will advance to semis and battle for the medals."

Jens Tietböhl, head coach of Germany: “First of all, congratulations to Turkey. We didn’t play well in the first two sets. We played hard in the fourth set and in the tie-break but unfortunately we lost in the end. Tomorrow is our last chance, if we want to qualify for the Finals we must defeat Italy. So we will do our best!”

Romania vs. The Netherlands 3-2 (25-19, 21-25, 17-25, 25-21, 15-11)

•    Romania started the match pretty well and won the opening set by 25-19.
•    In the following sets, the Netherlands played much better and were really close to achieving a second victory in Pool II after securing 25-21 and 25-17 set wins.
•    The Oranges continued to play with great confidence and took a four-point advantage in the fourth set by 17-13, but led by their unstoppable captain - Alexia Ioana Carutasu - Romania managed to make a remarkable comeback and to achieve their first victory at #EuroVolleyU17W.

Marius Macarie, head coach of Romania: “All our matches at this championship have been dramatic. Fortunately, today we won. I hope to play well tomorrow against Ukraine, our goal is to achieve another victory and to continue our journey in the tournament. Today we didn’t play well during the whole match but thanks to our substite players we managed to turn things to our advantage!”

Alexia Ioana Carutasu, captain of Romania: “It was a really difficult match. Our team was one set behind but we fought to the end and got the result we needed. Tomorrow we will fight against Ukraine and we will win for sure. We will try to do our best! I feel really good being the captain of this team. All girls help me a lot and this victory today is for all of us! I’m so happy!”

Click here for further information.