The second day of the U19 Middle European Championship in Dunaújváros, Hungary showed that national team of Croatia is the most serious candidate to win this year’s trophy. Even after day two they remain undefeated, despite winning both of today’s matches only in the third, decisive set.
In their first match of the morning, they met the Slovakian team. In a close match, where the first two sets were decided by a two-point margin, it was Croatia who won the first (27:25) and lost the second set (23:25). It was an attack success rate of 65% that made the third set go smooth for them. Also in the evening game against the Czech Republic, Croatia had to give it all. After winning first set, the Czech team came out strong in the second set and from the lead 16:10 middway through, never looked back again. Both teams were very even in the third set all the way until the result of 21:20, when Croatia was able to shift to another gear and give up only one more point until the end.
Also in the morning, the Czech easily defeated the Israeli with 3:0. In the first and third set, the Israeli women managed to collect 16 points in each, and only 13 in the second set. However, according to the majority of volleyball professionals, the Israeli prepared a surprise in the afternoon match against the Austrian women. They won the first set with 25:23, and the second even with 25:16, which was enough for a win. Even though the Israeli coach did not make any lineup changes for the third set, the Austrian national team players won it with 25:22. In the last game of the day, Austria lost 3:0 against Slovenia, who outperformed their opponents in all volleyball elements, mostly in the serve and serve-reception.
After collecting the maximum points in the first day of the tournament, Slovenia was semi successful on the second day, as they lost 1:2 against Hungary in the morning. The Hungarian won the first two sets, meaning the third set no longer decided the winner. Despite the poor service reception, the Hungarians were significantly more successful in the attack conversion, especially Lili Szabo, who scored 16 points and a 56% hitting percentage.
The Hungarian team secured their second win against Slovakia with a score of 3:0. Nevertheless, it was Slovakia who opened the game stronger, led even 16:10, but Hungary closed the gap at the twentieth point and won with 25:23. In the second and third set, they showed their quality from the very beginning, and the only metrics Slovakia was able to equal is the number of blocks. The quality of the Hungarian team is undoubtedly reflected in the wide selection of players who are able to play at a high level, even though in this match it was Viktoria Adrienn Sziladi with 18 and Lili Szabo with 16 points who stood out a bit more in this match.
Thus, after two days, Croatia has four victories at the top of the rankings, followed by Hungary and Slovenia with one less. Two wins were recorded by the Czech Republic, one each by Slovakia and Israel, with Austria remaining without one. The match between Croatia and Slovenia could already decide even about the first place, but in any case the Czech Republic would be among the top three if they win against Slovenia and the favorable outcome of the other matches.
Photo Credit: Croatian Volleyball Federation
