Trieste/Zagreb, Italy/Croatia, July 21, 2019. Turkey are the new #EuroVolleyU16W champions! In a very exciting duel with titleholders Italy, Turkey succeeded with a well-earned three-setter and started dancing immediately on the court. Russia secured themselves the Bronze medal, Slovenia got fourth and a lot of recognition for their heart-warming performances.  Earlier that day, the classification matches held in Zagreb produced The Netherlands as fifth, Serbia as sixth, Germany seventh and France as the no. 8 team in Europe in this age group. 

Here are the facts:

2019 #EuroVolleyU16W - Dream Team

Outside Hitter: Arina Fedorovtseva (RUS)
Outside Hitter: Naja Salamun (SLO)
Middle Blocker: Natalia Suvorova (RUS)
Middle Blocker: Neja Cizman (SLO)
Setter: Özge Arslanalp (TUR)
Opposite: Taja Gradisnik Klanjscek (SLO)
Libero: Benedetta Salviato (ITA)
MVP: Özge Arslanalp (TUR)
Fair Play: Greta Catania (ITA)

Gold-medal-match in Trieste

Italy vs Turkey 0-3 (20-25, 20-25, 20-25)

The stands in the PalaChiarbola in Trieste were packed. Quite naturally, since the local hosts had the chance to win another gold medal after the previous generation were crowned European champions two years ago in Sofia, Bulgaria.

This big crowd, however, didn’t bother the Turkish team who started with a 4-0 lead and forced coach Pasquale D’Aniello to take his first time-out. The young Turks, with hand-painted Turkish flags on their cheeks, acted with a lot of pressure with their service. On the other hand, the Azzurrine would not surrender that easily. On the contrary, they kept their heads up. Although they lost the first period, it was only marginal differences in a well-fought and balanced match on a very high level.

The second set also started with a 4-0 lead for Turkey, but at 10-9 the match was levelled again, only followed by service mistakes from Italy, bringing back a six-point-difference for Turkey, which was slowly melting during the humid conditions in the PalaChiarbola, but not smaller than four points. Turkey took the second set too.

This didn’t stop the hosts from fighting back. Italy managed to get a 10-7 lead in the third set but lost it right away, after the young Turkish players scored six times in a row. Turkey stabilised their play and with higher pressure through the service they took the third set and the gold medal with the second match ball, but only after some great exciting rallies that pleased the audience. Pure joy, dancing in the middle of the court, that was one image visible and on the other side of the net there was the Italian team, wiping some tears.

Rasit Berk Inanc, coach of Turkey: “It is funny, right now the beginning of our adventure is coming to my mind. When we all met the first time, and started to grow a team. And today, we were able to bring in the harvest. That makes me very happy.”

Bronze-medal-match

Russia vs Slovenia 3-1 (25-19, 18-25, 25-18, 25-14)

The favourite started very well, led 7-4 and Slovenia looked for answers with their first time-out. Guess what? Only minutes later it was 11-11 and Russia’s head coach Alexander Karikov was forced to take a time-out. And behold, things were pushed in his direction. Although the young Slovenian players never stuck their heads in the sand, even defending several set points, the first period went to Russia. In the second set, Slovenia showed their main assets from their previous performances in the tournament: team spirit, big smiles in their faces and thus they hopped on a wave of success which made them surfing to an 8-3 lead. They kept on going strong, ultimately deciding the set in their favour.
Period three was imprinted by a technically and tactically better game strategy of the young Russians, which had a 16-10 lead and a very impressive performance of Anastasiia Kapralova, thus bagging in the set a few minutes later.
They kept on going like that, starting with a 6-0 lead into the fourth set. Although Slovenia never gave up, it was the Russians who secured themselves the Bronze medal after winning silver at the first edition of the #EuroVolleyU16 in 2017.

Alexander Karikov, coach of Russia: “This is our sixth victory during this European Championship, but anyway, I am not satisfied with the game we displayed despite the successful result. The third place is good, but we came here for Gold.”

Classification matches 5/6 + 7/8 in Zagreb

The Netherlands vs Serbia 3-1 (29-27, 18-25, 25-22, 25-20)

Just like the matchup between Germany and France, this fixture was a replay of the same constellation during day five, and again, this time the former winner lost but not without showing an intense fight. The ‘Oranjes’ were leading during the first set, but always felt the Serbian breath in their backs. It took a little overtime to decide the first set. Next period, same scenario, but after a 7-7 tie, Serbia worked themselves to a seven-point-lead, continuing to put a lot of pressure with their attacks and winning the second one. Furthermore, Serbia started the third set with a three-point-lead, but the Dutchies once again found a way to take advantage of a few Serbian mistakes and eventually won the third set. The match kept being exciting and nerve-wracking even in the fourth set, until The Netherlands, backed up by 20 cheerful ‘Oranje’ fans, won 25-20 and secured fifth place. Nicole van de Vosse, yet again, showed an impressive performance piling up 26 points.

Eelco Beijl, coach of The Netherlands: “We are very happy, that we got the fifth place in another tough match with Serbia. I think, we started pretty well and focused, everyone doing their tasks, but somewhere along the lines, it is still volleyball for young girls, where they have high peaks and deep lows. Finally, they recovered and they fought it off, to win against such a good team as Serbia is.”

Germany vs France 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-19)

The match for spot seven in the ranking was a remake of the same constellation in the pool phase during day five of the #EuroVolleyU16W – the crucial match, where the young Germans only had to win two sets to qualify for the semis in Trieste but lost the match vs France 1-3. This time, Germany performed much better, although they had the last match the day before still in their bones. It started out as a tight and balanced game, but soon Germany had a slight  lead, as Nikola Schmidt recorded a few winning spikes. The answer followed. The French girls opened the second set better. Germany caught them again, with the help of some crucial points by Mia Kirchhoff. The ice was broken, the final set was a match mostly in just one direction, as Germany attacked with precision, keeping France at distance throughout the whole set. In the end, Mia Kirchhoff was the eventual top scorer with 17 points, including 14 winning spikes.

Mia Kirchhoff, top scorer from Germany: “I am very happy that we won, because we had three losses in a row, with a tough one the last time we played France. So I can only be happy that we won and leave the tournament with such a dominant win.”

Manuel Hartmann, coach of Germany: “We were very tired, but France too. It is just a very difficult time to play, at 10 in the morning. I am very proud of the girls, that we played the game with good structure and plan, so I can only be happy about the win.”

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