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Poland vs Serbia 3:2 (25-23, 20-25, 25-19, 22-25, 15-12)

The dream of being in the big final of the inaugural European Games is a reality for Poland, as the Polish ladies emerged triumphant in the first semifinal of the women’s tournament played on Thursday. Determination and a remarkable display of dominant attacks enabled Jacek Nawrocki’s women to outplay Serbia in a heart-stirring match.

Both squads stated their ambitions to earn the ticket to the final with a remarkable exchange of successful offensive actions in an electric start of the encounter. Poland used their powerful attacking resources and their ample array of scoring options to take the lead in the match 25-23.

This loss in the initial period spurred Serbia, and Zoran Terzic’s women presented a resolute performance in the second set through Jelena Nikolic’s and Brankica Mihajlovic’s unstoppable spikes. The actions by the two Serbian stars drove the Balkan side to level the match (25-20).                                               

With 1:1, Polish setter Joanna Wolosz found clearer ways to connect with Anna Werblinska and Katarzyna Ewa Kowronska-Dolata, and the attacks finished by the two Polish spiking aces provided Jacek Nawrocki’s ladies the control of the set (8:5, 16:9) so to put the 25-19 and the 2:1 in the match.

Intensity and tension grew over the court as the game progressed, and spectacular saves and digs from the back court players in the two sides of the net established a constant equality in the fourth set (8:5, 15:16). Jelena Nikolic’s leadership on the Serbian side determined the outcome of the period, as the captain guided her team to the final 25-19 and to the tie-break.

At this point of the clash, Poland’s Katarzyna Zaroslinska confirmed her condition of one of the biggest stars of the tournament with her flawless spikes and implacable attacks. The offensive contribution by the 1.87-metres tall player provided a total domination in the set for her team, and her performance was ultimately crucial, since a sensational spike by the opposite player contributed to the 15-12 that sealed the match 3:2 and sent Poland straight to the coveted gold medal match. 



“Back home our fans keep on saying that we are making some kind of horror movie out of every match we have been contesting in this competition,” Poland’s outside spiker Katarzyna Skowronska-Dolata said. “It’s been indeed the case already in a few matches that we could have finished in three or four sets but then we ended up playing the tie-break. It wasn’t any different today but once more we showed composure, patience and resilience to come back and edge our opponent in the end. As for the final, it does not matter who we play; the further you make it in a competition, the more you want to get, so we are definitely not satisfied with a silver medal and we will be playing for gold. I think the second semi-final is going to be a very interesting match where pressure and nerves may have an impact on the final result. I missed the 2014 season with the national team because I needed a break, it felt like I had reached my limits from a physical point of view and needed some time to regenerate and charge the battery. Right now I am just very happy to be a member of this group – actually one of the oldest ones – and it doesn’t really matter in which position I play.” 

”I am very disappointed right now that we are not going to be in the final. We need to congratulate Poland – they had more focus and more courage in the difficult moments today, so maybe they deserved to play the final a little more than us. We had an extremely tough match against Belgium two days ago, and we could still feel that match in our bodies today. But in general, I think we have played a good tournament and we deserve a medal. I think we will get that,” said the captain of Serbia, Jelena Nikolic.

Turkey vs Azerbaijan 3:2 (25-21, 23-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-11)

The home heroines of Azerbaijan had already accomplished their first major goal by making the semis of the first ever European Games but at this stage everyone – and especially their fans – wanted more, hoping they would also make amends for their 0:3 loss they had suffered to neighbouring Turkey in pool play. A victory and the eventual qualification for the ‘grand finale’ of the tournament would have secured Azerbaijan’s first international medal since this country’s best result to date remained a fourth place from the 2005 edition of the European Championship held in Croatia.

The ‘derby’ with Turkey was going to be an emotional match for everyone involved and also for the many volunteers – aka the Flamekeepers – in attendance who were hoping the home team would pay back with another terrific performance their hard work and the incredible enthusiasm they had been showing since the very first day of this Games.

The section of Crystal Hall hosting the Volleyball competition was like a boiling cauldron with more than 4,000 fans in attendance and Azerbaijan caught a promising start (3:1) in their quest for a spot in the ‘grand finale’ but Turkey – always well mentored by the youngest coach in the tournament, the only 29-year old Ferhat Akbas – was evidently not willing to pave the way with gold for the hosts and edged ahead 9:6 after the first technical time-out. With Odina Bayramova standing in the service area Azerbaijan got back on track scoring four straight points; it was only the beginning of a neck-to-neck race that lasted for a while until Turkey got a small edge after the second technical time-out and despite their efforts, many nail-biting rallies and the excitement they sparked among their fans Azerbaijan could not close that gap and ended up losing the first set 21-25.

The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev and First Lady, Mehriban Aliyeva joined the local crowd at Crystal Hall in the early stages of the second set and after struggling to keep up with the pace imposed by their opponents, Azerbaijan fought back to make it 11 all and moved to the front on two consecutive spikes killed by their always towering opposite Polina Rahimova. The final section of this stanza was a dramatic one with Turkey surviving to three set balls for the home side before Azerbaijan could finally close it out (25-23) and restore equality in the match.

Turkey did not lose composure and as the actions resumed they confirmed their intention to continue with their triumphal campaign in the competition cruising to an 11:6 early lead and relying on a margin of four points also at the second technical time-out with Neriman Ozsoy being their most effective and prolific player. Turkey controlled the set all the way through to the end cashing a pretty comfortable 25-19 win on a spike killed by their 197 cm tall middle blocker Kübra Akman.  

Azerbaijan could not afford missing their ‘last call’ to stay alive in the match and played with a lot of courage in the fourth set but Turkey’s block worked just fine and made it difficult to score also for the imposing – 198 cm tall – Polina Rahimova (12:10). Polen Uslupehlivan – who had replaced Gözde Yilmaz in the third set – and Ozsoy continued to perform strong but an ace by Kseniya Poznyak levelled the score at 14 to bring back some hope among the local fans. Azerbaijan trailed by two at the second technical time-out, scored two in a row as the actions resumed and the spectators were just standing on their feet as their heroines stormed back to edge ahead at 22:21 after an unsuccessful challenge by the Turkish coach. Turkey did not tremble, Polina Rahimova’s spike hit the antenna to make it 23:22 for the visitors who at this stage were only two points away from a spot in the gold medal match. Rahimova immediately made amends for her mistake to level the score at 23 and a block by Bayramova got the audience even more on fire for Azerbaijan had their first set ball which that same player cashed to make the stands literally shake under the feet of the home fans (25-23).

The drama continued in the fifth set where Azerbaijan quickly trailed 2:5 but fought back to make it 5 all. An ace by Rahimova got the home team in the lead at 7:6 and the enthusiasm – and with it also the decibels – reached its climax as Turkey’s mentor stopped the game trying to propel a comeback to cut his team’s two-point deficit (9:7). He got the desired effect as his ladies powered back to 9 all; 4,500 fans could hardly take a breath in the final stages of this dramatic match especially as Turkey had again edged ahead (13:11). The players from Azerbaijan’s ‘brother nation’ in the end upset the crowd with a block on Rahimova sealing the final 15-11.



“I feel really great right now because it was a really, really tough match. They pushed us a lot, but we tried to be patient, we tried not to make too many mistakes and every time we lost a ball, we just said to each other 'Push, just push'. And we did it,” said the captain of Turkey, Güldeniz Önal, who scored nine points today. “Now we just have to see what kind of medal we get. We played against Poland in our first game in this tournament and we lost. We know what we have to do, we know what we can’t do, we know the mistakes we made so the final is 50/50, but we really want to win the gold medal. We have worked hard, we have tried and we have played very good Volleyball, I think,” added the outside spiker.

“The game was hard and nervous. We could not get into the rhythm right from the start. Clearly it did not go the way we had planned. But we are determined to fight for the bronze medal. The girls understand that, and now we will prepare to fight for that medal that we want so much,” said Azerbaijan’s mentor Aleksandr Chervyakov.