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Poland vs Romania 3:0  (25-23, 25-15, 25-16)

In a forceful manifestation of complete Volleyball, Poland upset Romania 3:0 in the first match of the day in Pool A. The Romanian squad’s dreams of achieving its first victory were halted in this encounter by a Polish side that controlled the game from beginning to end.

Romania stepped into the court desperately searching for a first triumph in the competition, and these wishes of victory helped Guillermo Gallardo’s ladies as the young Romanians took the initiative in the first set. However, Poland progressively settled into the court and brushed off their rivals’ drive to regain control of the period and subsequently close the set 25-23.  

With the defeat in the previous period weighing on their initial enthusiasm, anxiety made its appearance in Romania’s side of the net. Poland took this situation as an opportunity to impose their error-free performance, so to earn a growing advantage and to dominate the set. With a back-court spike by Katarzyna Zaroslinska, Poland convincingly stated their domination in the match (25-15).

Poland continued their implacable run in the match, as the offensive display by Anna Werblinska and Katarzyna Zaroslinska served Jacek Nawrocki’s ladies to control clearly the game. The lack of errors in the Polish performance offered no opportunities for Romania to grasp for some air in the match, and differences in the third set kept growing. Poland just had to maintain their efficiency to finish the set 25-16 and the match 3:0.



“I have a lot of emotions inside me right now. This victory is so important for us, because it decided whether we were in or out of the tournament. And we want to be here so much. The first set was very important. It was very close, but we managed to win it, which made the match for us. Even though this was a match that we should win, Romania did not make it easy for us,” said Anna Werblinska, scoring 12 points in today’s match.

“The first set was the only one in which Poland gave us options. Today we presented a young lineup and they did not know how to solve the important moments of the game. After the first set, Poland imposed a greater pressure on us and we were unable to keep our bearings against that situation,” declared the coach of Romania, Guillermo Gallardo.   

Italy vs Azerbaijan 1:3 (22-25, 20-25, 25-22, 22-25)

Azerbaijan had their third straight win in Crystal Hall in front of a lively and loud crowd, including President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva, who attented today’s match. This time it was Italy’s turn to get a taste of the tall Azerbaijani home heroines’ hands who won 3:1.  

When you looked at the two teams on the court, you noticed that Azerbaijan had a least one advantage compared to the Italians: height. While Italy had an average height of 180.83 centimeters, the Azerbaijani team measured 184.86 centimeter in average. And the four extra centimeters came in handy for Azerbaijan in the first set, where Polina Rahimova, 198 cm tall, scored seven points. The Crystal Hall crowd exploded in cheers, when outside spiker Odina Bayramova with an 86 km/h serve put an end to the first set making it 25-22.

A spectacular home crowd was again present in Crystal Hall to set some fantastic frames for the match. Among the attendance were the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and his wife Mehriban Aliyeva. And they got full value for their money again in the second set, as Azerbaijan’s blocking game became even more solid. Water would have a hard time finding a way through the blocks, and so did the Italian spikes, creating the foundation to a 25-20 set win to Azerbaijan.

The two official mascots of the European Games, Jeyran the Gazelle and Nar the Pomegranate, visited Crystal Hall today. And the mascots could see an Azerbaijani team, who until now had had a firm grip of the match, falling behind. Italy managed to fight their way back in the match with a lot of help by the hands of outside spiker Anastasia Guerra. Azerbaijan got their hopes of a 3:0 win up after they equalised the score to 20-20 following one of the longest rallies of the match with several spectacular saves. But Raffaella Calloni closed the set with a hard spike 25-22 for Italy.

The fourth set was yet another intense affair and the importance of the match made the rallies more aggressive than graceful. Katerina Zhidkova put all her powers behind her spike as she blasted Azerbaijan on winning course, 17:16. The sound level in Crystal Hall reached 106 db, the same as a power saw, as Polina Rahimova secured Azerbaijan a 25-22 set win and their third victory in as many matches they have contested so far. 



“It was a hard match, but we played as a team as we knew that it was the only possible way to win. It was a tough victory, every one of us had to show her strongest side,” said the Azerbaijani libero, Valeriya Mammadova.

“I am happy with the effort, but at the same time I am sad that we lost. We managed to put in a good fight in every set and that was very important for us after the collapse against Turkey. Now we must continue at this level against Poland and Romania, so we can qualify for the quarterfinals,” said Giulia Pascucci, who scored 15 points in the match. 

Belgium vs Turkey 0:3 (16-25, 15-25, 18-25)

Turkey achieved their second victory in the competition after beating Belgium 3:0, thus confirming their candidacy to occupy the top positions of Pool A. The Turkish squad controlled the match and upset a Belgian side that was unable to defy their rivals preeminence. 

Turkey took a direct route to victory by presenting an admirable level of performance in the first set. Their offensive abilities and the actions finished by Güideniz Önal Pasaoglu gave the Turkish squad the lead in the period, and their superiority became more and more convincing as the set evolved. The Belgian attempts of recovery turned fruitless and a spike by Neriman Ozsoy sealed the final 25-16.

A starting 4:1 for Turkey in the second set confirmed the domination of the squad trained by Ferhat Akbas. With the weight of the growing disadvantage over their shoulders, the Belgian ladies struggled to offer alternatives in the game that would foster a reaction, consequently granting Turkey a paved way for a victory in the period. Neriman Ozsoy’s actions corroborated the Turkish authority in the set (25-15).

Belgium craved for a late comeback and invoked their team spirit in order to cause a setback in the Turkish intentions to finish the game in three sets. Although the Yellow Tigers brought some degree of uncertainty halfway through the period, Turkey recovered their efficiency, imposed  their higher level of performance and ultimately put an end to their rivals’ wishes of extending the match with a free ball finished by Gözde Yilmaz (25-18).



“It was a very important match for us, for the standings of the pool. Our next game is against Romania, at 9:00 am, so for this we needed to win this match. We are very happy,” declared the captain of Turkey, Güideniz Önal Pasaoglu. 

“Turkey dominated this match. That is pretty much what there is to say. We need to evaluate how we can react to this. For sure we need to keep fighting in the next two matches. We need the points and we will do every possible thing to get them,” said Belgium’s Els Vandesteene.