Durrës, Albania, September 3, 2018. Italy are leading in Pool I after Day 3 of the pool stage in the Final Round of the 2018 CEV U19 Volleyball European Championship - Women as on Monday they beat Bulgaria 3-1. In their previous matches the Italians gave only two sets away to their opponents and are getting closer to qualifying to the semi-finals.  Belarus upset the Netherlands, storming to a comprehensive 3-0 victory in The Dutch, who in the previous days had seized victories over Albania (3-0) and over Bulgaria (3-1), weren’t able to resist to the strong play at the service line showed by Belarus and reacted only in the last minutes of the third set, but this was not enough to mount a comeback. In the second match in Pool I Poland smashed the team of Albania for a landslide 3-0 victory. The hosts were too weak and could not cause any serious troubles to the much stronger Polish team. 

Belarus vs. The Netherlands 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 26-24)

• Belarus raced into an early 6-1 lead and although the Dutch head coach Julien Van de Vyver called a timeout, the players around Natallia Melianiuk continued scoring for 16-8 and the eventual 25-16 win.
• Team Belarus started a little bit better in the second set, but the Netherlands tied the score at 9-9. Belarus took again the initiative for 16-12 and although the Dutch fought back, Belarus resisted and closed the second set in their favour.
• The Netherlands seemed to come back in the match in the third set with the score being 24-22 in their favour. The team of Belarus, however, scored three points in a row to win the match 3-0. 
• Hanna Hryshkevich of Belarus led her team to the victory by scoring 17 points.

Julien Van de Vyver, head coach of the Netherlands: “We lost today, because they killed us with a strong serve, a strong attack; they were better organised. In other words, they were the better team today. My team was too anxious to win the game and we made mistakes, letting the game slip away from our hands.”

Natallia Melianiuk, head coach of Belarus: “It was not as easy as the score shows, but we performed very well especially at serving and in attack. We blocked very well too. We lost against Italy, but the match against Poland will be the decisive one. My team is growing in confidence, which is important.”

Poland vs. Albania 3-0 (25-13, 25-6, 25-9)

• Poland were too strong in the first set and Albania could not find a proper answer to react to their better performance in the different aspects of the game.
• The same scenario developed in the second set as well, as Poland were leading from the very first moment until the last one, allowing their opponents to score only six points. 
• Neither in the last part the hosts coached by Roland Tarja could show any better skills and the Polish team deservedly closed it at 25-9. 

Roland Tarja, head coach of Albania: “It's a hard defeat from a very, very good opponent. We expected the match against Poland to be very difficult and I think my players lost the match also in their minds.”

Ireneusz Waleczek, assistant coach of Poland: “This is a tough tournament, but the match vs. Albania gave us some opportunity to take a breath. We had a job to do and did it well. Now we look forward to the Belarus game.”

Bulgaria vs. Italy 1-3 (11-25, 25-19, 20-25, 20-25)

• Italy were storming it out there on the court in the first set, creating a ten-point gap, leading at 11-1. Bulgaria coach Asen Metodiev tried to find a solution, calling a timeout, but it did not work fine for his team, as they lost the set at 11-25.
• Things were different in the second set, as the Bulgarians took the lead from the very beginning (5-2) and Italy coach Massimo Bellano was forced to take a timeout. Despite this Bulgaria maintained a good level, leading at 14-8. Italy tried it hard to turn things in their favour, but a very determined Bulgaria equalized for 1-1 sets after 25-19.
• Both teams entered the court very motivated in the third set, with the score remaining very close. Italy started pulling away at 14-11 and despite the attempts of Bulgaria to resist to their sharp attacks, the Azzurrine closed the set at 25-20, getting closer to the victory.
• Although Bulgaria started better to the fourth set, Italy could seal the win at 25-20 and this way finished the first three days of the pool phase without a single loss.