Tirana, Albania, September 2, 2018. Team Serbia recorded their first win in the 2018 CEV U19 Volleyball European Championship - Women on Sunday, edging the team of Germany 3-1 in the first battle for the day in Pool II. Both teams were exchanging constantly the lead in the match, but eventually the players around head coach Marijana Boricic emerged victorious thanks to a good performance in block and defence. Serbia, whose team won the silver medals in the U19 European Championship back in 2016, came back strong from their 0-3 loss to Russia on the opening day. The second day in the competition brought smiles to the face of the 2016 bronze medallists from Turkey as well, as they totally outclassed Slovakia for a 3-0 win, with only the last set being a real battle. France were close to causing a sensation in their matchup with Russia, as this matchup featured many turnarounds, but the Russian side found the right way to respond in the decisive moments and grab the victory at 3-1.

Germany vs. Serbia 1-3 (16-25, 25-14, 19-25, 23-25) 

• In the early stages of the match, Germany seemed to be more concentrated, taking the lead at 4-0, but Serbia mounted a comeback for 10-10.  Manuel Hartmann took a timeout, but it did not help his girls to calm and Serbia edged ahead at 15-11 to eventually emerge victorious at 25-16. 
• The second set started identically with Germany leading (8-1). Jovana Miroslavjevic on the service line brought Serbia back in the game for a little while, but this time the girls coached by Manuel Hartmann resisted and won the set at 25-14. 
• Germany’s reception was suffering in the first minutes of the third set and the Serbian players took advantage of it (13-7 in their favour). Although in the last moments Germany were breathing down Serbia’s necks, the Serbs managed to take the lead in the match at 2-1 sets. 
• An intense play marked the last minutes of the fourth set, as neither Germany, nor Serbia were giving up, but the players coached by Marijana Boricic showed better nerves and recorded their first win at #EuroVolleyU19W.

Marijana Boricic, head coach of Serbia: “We were very nervous in the first and in the second set, and I think this was because of having lost our first match in the tournament. Today we started playing Volleyball and to be focused, to think about the game, not about what will happen if we lose. I believe that we came back in the fourth set and thanks to this good performance we won.”

Manuel Hartmann, head coach of Germany: “Big congratulations to Serbia. They were very well prepared on how to react to our attack. They were answering to a lot of our attacks and their reception was very good.  We had also problems with passing their block. It was a nice match, as both teams were fighting, especially in the fourth set. We could have reached the tiebreak, but we couldn’t find a response to the Serbian block.” 

Turkey vs. Slovakia 3-0 (25-11, 25-17, 28-26)

• The Turkish players did not leave any doubts in who was better in the first set – they were leading during all the time and with 14 points difference opened the match at 25-11.
• Turkey, who in the opening day lost 2-3 from Germany, were storming it out there in the second set, scoring point after point to take a comfortable lead at 14-5 and for an eventual 25-17, despite Slovakia’s attempts to come back. 
• The Slovaks stood better during most of time in the third set and tied the score. However, the Turkish girls responded, so the spectators in ‘Feti Borova’ sport hall in Tirana witnessed some nice rallies. The players of Sehin Catma got luckier to close the set at 28-26 and to congratulate themselves with a victory. 
• Yaprak Erkek, who celebrated her birthday on Sunday, scored 16 points, helping her team to claim the victory. 

Sahin Catma, head coach of Turkey: “In the first game we had bad reception and bad service. Today we improved in exactly these components and it resulted in us being the eventual winners. It is good that also Serbia took a win. We now need to prepare for our next matches and to keep calm, because we saved our chances to continue ahead.”

Michal Matušov, head coach of Slovakia: “Today we played with no passion, this was our problem. If we start playing good after, with our hearts, after the sixteenth point in the different sets, we can’t do good against strong teams like Turkey.”

France vs. Russia 1-3  (25-23, 20-25, 21-25, 12-25)

• The first set started with a point-for-point game and continued to unfold in the same way as both sides were impressing with some nice play. However, a strong performing France in the last minutes disappointed the Russian side winning the opening set 25-23.
• It seemed that Russia slowly started controlling the game in the next set, but the French players were pushing as hard as they could. Yulia Brovkina on the service line brought luck to the Russian side and they equalised the match at 1-1 sets after a 25-20 win.  
• Nothing was over for the French girls, as they showed their best in the beginning of the third set. Meanwhile, Russia lost the focus, but after a while, got back on their feet and tied the score to eventually emerge victorious at 25-21. 
• Taking the third part was enough for the players of Alexander Karikov to get inspired and defeat France at 25-12 in the fourth set. 

Alexander Karikov, head coach of Russia: “Winning is very important, but this is just a game. The players win and they need to play good. The average age of our team is one or two years younger than the others; here the psychology factor plays a great role. The same thing happened to France as well – they were supposed to win the third set, but they couldn’t manage to do so.”

Philippe-Marie Salvan, head coach of France: “We played against Russia and it is not easy to win over them. Today we played well because we know them. We played against Russia a friendly match before this tournament and we know that we can play at their level. We know that when ‘the door is open’, we must take the opportunity. In the third set we led by four points when ‘the door was open’, but later they ‘closed the door’ and it was not possible to enter anymore. Now we know that we must win all the remaining games, but this is the same case also for the other teams. I am always optimistic and if I have only one chance to qualify, I will use it.”