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Belgium vs Poland 3:2 (25-22, 21-25, 23-25, 25-22, 16-14)

A pivotal clash for the outcome of Pool A opened the day at Crystal Hall arena, as Belgium and Poland starred in a sensational and galvanising encounter that resulted in an outstanding match of top Volleyball ultimately resolved by Belgium in a fascinating tie-break.

Aware of the relevance of the match, and despite the early hours, both squads presented an impressive level of performance in the first two sets, imposing speed and fast pace to their spectacular actions, in remarkable attempts to subdue their rivals. Belgium managed to take a slight lead by the end of the first period, with Lise Van Hecke as main offensive reference, thus earning an advantage that would suffice for the Yellow Tigers to put the final 25-22. Responding to this initial result, Poland’s Katarzyna Ewa Skowronska-Dolata took the spotlight in the second set and her offensive excellence provided the Polish side the control of the period, and the required edge to level the match 1:1 (21-25).

With extreme parity installed in the scoreboard as well as on the court, the control of the game continuously changed hands in the following sets. Tension was a constant in Crystal Hall arena, as Poland reached the deciding phase of the third set with a slight advantage (20:23). Belgium accomplished to save two set balls, but Poland’s offensive preeminence allowed Jacek Nawrocki’s ladies to place the final 25-23 with a spike by Anna Werblinska.

The intense effort on both sides of the net was reaching its highest levels, and at that moment, Belgium showed an outstanding resilience to come back from an initial disadvantage (6:10) and dominate the fourth period. Charlotte Leys and Freya Aelbrecht’s contribution in the Belgian side put the match in overdrive towards the tie-break, a situation that was confirmed in the continuation, thus stating the inevitability of a spectacular resolution to this fantastic clash (25-22).

Ultimately, the Belgian team spirit and determination resolved the encounter. After an initial 5:8 for Poland, the Yellow Tigers managed to recover and brushed off the disadvantage with a sensational demonstration of defence and team work. In a riveting end of match, Poland saved a match ball, but a spike by Freya Aelbrecht put the final 16-14.    



“I am disappointed with the result of this game. At some points of the match we played well, but we couldn’t close it in the end. For the rest of the tournament, we want to win every game so it doesn’t matter who our next opponent is. I think we can beat Germany, The Netherlands or any of the other teams. I just hope that we can keep on winning,” said the captain of Poland, Izabela Belcik.

“I am so happy that we won today. I think we did such a great job, we never stopped fighting. We didn’t start so well, but after that, we found our game and it is important that we kept on believing that we could win the match. The key of the game was that we never stopped believing in the victory. Also, when we were behind [in the scoreboard] we kept putting pressure on them,” said Belgian star opposite Lise Van Hecke.  

Italy vs Romania 0-3 (23-25, 16-25, 21-25)

The Italian side had maximum at stake, as they still had a chance of advancing to the quarterfinals. To do that, a 3-0 win was needed. That was the clear and tough reality for Italy as they walked into the last pool match against Romania.

The importance of the match glowed from the concentrated eyes of the Italians as they fought for every point knowing they could not bear to lose the opening, or any other, set of the match. The fighting spirit was exemplified by Miriam Sylla, who in yet another intense rally at the score of 23:23 ran to the Romanian side of the net to save the ball before the rally ended with an Italian set point. Or so they thought. Romania called a challenge that showed that the ball, which had been called out, actually was in and then it was suddenly the Romanian side who had the set point and after that won the set 25-23.

With the shattered hope of a spot in the quarterfinals of the European Games, Italy lost some of their motivation in the second set. Romania on the other hand saw an opening of their first taste of success. While Adina Salaoru was giving Italy a hard time with her spikes, Liana-Gabriela Badea made it even harder with her rock-solid blocks, and Romania won the set 25-16.

Even with no chance of quarterfinals in reach for the two sides the smiles and fight for a last win was present. Though, the Romanian side was riding a wave of success having won the two previous sets and Italy more demotivated due to the same. That was reflected by the score, 16:10 at the second technical timeout, and Romania’s first win in Baku followed at 25-21 for the final 3:0.

With the result the European Games ends here for both Romania and Italy wo finish in fifth and sixth position in Pool A, respectively.   



"We are very happy because finally we could win a match in the tournament. We are glad because even though the team could not win until now, the players have worked hard these days and they deserved this victory. From the beginning of the match we played better than our opponents. We were at a good level with our serve today; obviously, they contributed with their reception but we also played with the best side-out of all our matches," said the coach of Romania Guillermo Gallardo.

“I am very sad with our exit from the tournament. We had our chance in the first set, but unfortunately we missed it. This tournament was important for us, but we did not succeed. We need to do better. This is still a very young group of players, and the European Games have been an experience for them so they can improve for their future career,” said Italian coach Fabio Soli.  

Turkey vs Azerbaijan 3-0 (25-23, 26-24, 25-21)

The Crystal Hall was turned into a cauldron as the home heroines of Azerbaijan faced Turkey in the last match of Pool A. The top of the pool was at stake as both teams already had secured their ticket to the quarter-finals.

After a good Azerbaijani beginning, Turkey equalised to 5:5 after Polina Rahimova lost a duel at the net. Then Rahimova ripped off an abdominal support she had been wearing, clearly not happy with her own effort this early in the game. Polina Rahimova has been on fire in this tournament being the first player to break the 100 points mark as the 25-year old opposite was noted for a stunning 108 points going into the clash with Turkey. To put it in perspective – Turkey’s top scorer, Neriman Ozsoy, had scored half of that with 50 points. Turkey and Azerbaijan battled for each centimeter of the court in the first set which Turkey closed with an ace 25-23.

The Crystal Hall in Baku was filled to its bursting point by expectant spectators for the clash between Turkey and Azerbaijan, but the crowd had a hard time finding the right grimace, as Turkey ripped apart Azerbaijan’s game plan with rock solid blocks and creative setting by Naz Aydemir Akyol. Turkey thought that they had won the set 25-22, but a challenge from Aleksander Chervyakov reversed the point, as the video showed that it was the Turkish block and not the Azerbaijani spike that touched the antenna, making the score 24:23. At 24:24 Crystal Hall exploded in cheers, but was silenced again as Turkey won the set 26-24.

The home heroines had made it harder for themselves with a number of missed services and other unprovoked mistakes in the first two sets. Combined with the narrow set losses, a collapse would have been understandable. But Azerbaijan wanted it different and kept their fighting spirit high. Little helped it, as Turkey was on top of their game and found answers to all of Azerbaijan’s attacks winning the set 25-21.

With the win Turkey finish on top of Pool A with four wins and 13 ranking points.



“We managed to stop Azerbaijan with our tactics, but I think they are a better team than they showed today. But we played maybe the best Volleyball this far in the tournament. It meant a lot that Azerbaijan did not win a set then it would have been really hard for us. But they did not, and the match became easier than I had expected,” said Neriman Ozsoy, Turkey’s top scorer with 17 points including the last of the match.

“This was a very emotional match for us. We did not relax and that made us make many mistakes. Furthermore, we had only seven players who were ready to play today and that limited us. But Turkey was really focused from the second they sat foot on the court and they played amazing,” said Azerbaijan’s libero Valeriya Mammadova.