Arnhem, Netherlands, April 8, 2017. Italy and Russia will contest the gold medal match in a great final on Sunday, while Serbia and Belarus finish their campaign at the #EuroVolleyU18W in the game for the bronze medal. It is the second time in history that these teams will play for the European crown in this under-age group since 1995, when the first edition was held in Barcelona. 22 years ago, the opener was decided with the Italian girls celebrating a straight victory over their Russian opponents.
The final between Italy and Russia will be held on Sunday (16:30 CEST) and can be watched live and for free on LAOLA1.TV as well as on Facebook @CEVEuroVolley. Serbia and Belarus will close their #EuroVolleyU18W road at 14.00 CEST which will be broadcasted on LAOLA1.TV.
You can follow the Championship also on Facebook and Twitter, with the official hashtag to be used for all of your posts and tweets being #EuroVolleyU18W!
1st Semi-Final | Italy vs. Serbia
Italy continued their impressive run at #EuroVolleyU18W by surviving a five-set thriller against Serbia (25-11, 23-25, 23-25, 25-16, 25-9). It was one of the best matches the spectators could enjoy in Arnhem as Italy had to show their best #EuroVolleyU18W performance to move on to the gold medal match on Sunday. Italy presented an inspired start leading the score by 8-2 and 21-5 in the first set. However, the main reason for that dominance was the poor attack of Serbia. They had just an offence ratio of 16% which was not enough to deal with the Italian butterflies. An incredible Serbian comeback was made in the following sets. Serbia acted with an outstanding reception (71%, 55%) and block-defence system that stopped Italy’s outside spikers as well as opposite top scorer Terry Ruth Enweonwu very often to turn the match from 0-1 to 2-1. The Serbian girls continued to play on a high level until the beginning of the fourth period and it looked like they really could stop the Italian favourites, who had dropped just one set in the preliminary round, but after this the match changed its course again. The girls of head coach Luca Cristofani confirmed their rising form in the tie-break and went up to a comfortable lead of 8-4 that cost a bravely fighting Serbia the final. Enweonwu eventually topped the charts and contributed 26 points to the Italian victory.
Italy Luca Cristofani was relieved: “We are very happy, because this was a very difficult match. I don’t know what happened to my girls after the first set, but the most important was our reaction. I want to say congratulations to Serbia, they played a great game. Tomorrow will be the hardest match of the tournament.’’
Sarah Luisa Fahr, Italy middle blocker said: “I am very happy for my team and that I could help the girls with my performance today. I was excited to play, but everything went well after the first minutes.’’
Serbia coach Jovo Cakovic immediately found the reason why his team lost the semi-final: “Congratulations to Italy. Unfortunately, they played their best game today. I’m proud of my players. We had a super tactic and great energy on the court in the second and third sets and even at the beginning of the fourth set. But it was hard to keep it until the end of the match. My players lost everything at this point. The European Championship isn’t over at this moment. We will give everything to win the bronze medal tomorrow.”
2nd Semi-Final | Belarus vs. Russia
Russia will make their second consecutive appearance in a #EuroVolley18W final to fight for their third crown on Sunday. The defending champions upset Belarus 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-15) and completed a remarkable comeback in the tournament, thus earning the right to be the most successful team in this age-group. It was their fourth victory in a row after two defeats at the beginning of the European Championship. The game was a total demonstration of strength by the Russian players who didn’t waste time running over their opponents in all sets. Their advantage in block and service, where Russia scored 11 and 18 times, was the key to their success today. The Belarusian team reached just three blocks and struggled with a weak attack (33%) as well as to control Russia’s top scorers Valeriya Shevchuk (14 points) and Viktoriia Pushina (12 points). With a powerful spike Shevchuk ended the match to start the cheering storm of her teammates. Russia have now the chance of reaching a historic result. There is no team so far that could win this age-group championship two times in a row.
Russia coach Alexander Karikov spoke about the journey of his team from the start of the tournament: “We made a big improvement and are happy that we have reached the final at the European Championship. It is typical for Russian teams to start slowly, but also to get better and better after every game. Our main goal was to go to the World Championship and now we even have the chance to win the European Championship.”
Natallia Melianiuk, Belarus coach added: “We are disappointed. We wanted to reach the final but Russia played their best game today. We will do everything to win the bronze medal tomorrow.’’
