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Podgorica, Montenegro, October 9, 2020. Russia retained the U17 women’s title they had claimed two years ago in Bulgaria as they beat reigning U16 European champions Turkey in the gold medal match of the event held in Podgorica. The young Russians completed a clean sweep of their matches in the Montenegrin capital, dropping only two sets throughout the whole tournament – in their opening match of the pool stage with Poland and in today’s grand finale with Turkey. Earlier in the afternoon, Serbia beat Italy 3-1 to secure the bronze medal and claim the last step of the podium. The top six teams of this year’s #EuroVolleyU17W have all qualified for the next edition of the FIVB Girls’ U18 World Championship due to take place in 2021.
Gold medal match – Turkey vs. Russia 1-3 (25-20, 16-25, 12-25, 23-25)
Despite losing the first set of the ‘grand finale’, Russia rose to the occasion and they literally swept Turkey aside in the second and third sets of the gold medal match played on Friday evening at Verde sports complex in Podgorica. The fourth set was a very close affair, but Russia eventually emerged victorious to retain the continental title they had won two years ago in Sofia. Their team captain and star player Arina Fedorovtseva delivered another superb performance, scoring as many as 26 points in the process. Pelin Eroktay and Melisa Ege Bükmen recorded 17 and 16 points for Turkey, respectively. “We are very disappointed because we lost the game for first place. I hope we will be the champions next year,” said the captain of the Turkish team, Pelin Eroktay.
“I can only say that it feels amazing, we are the champions!” said Russia’s captain and Most Valuable Player of the tournament, Arina Fedorovtseva.
Bronze medal match – Serbia vs. Italy 3-1 (22-25, 25-16, 25-18, 25-20)
After losing to Turkey and Russia in the semis, both of these teams looked determined to finish the tournament with a victory – with the ‘Azzurrine’ catching a very promising start to the match. However, Serbia rebounded from losing the first set and they swept three in a row to travel home with the bronze medals. Una Vajagic was once again their best scorer on a personal tally of 20 points, followed by Hena Kurtagic (17). Julia Ituma registered the most points for Italy with 16. The loss is quite a major blow and disappointment for Italy, after they had finished second at last year’s U16 competition on home soil in Trieste.
“We are very happy with securing the bronze medal and with the fact that we are not returning to Serbia with empty hands. It was a great game, we fought well and I would like to congratulate my teammates on delivering such a great performance,” said the team captain from Serbia, Nina Mandovic.
Classification match 5-6 – Romania vs. Poland 3-2 (21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 22-25, 15-10)
Romania beat Poland in five sets to finish the competition in fifth place – the same feat they achieved two years ago in Bulgaria, thus equalling their top result in this age group. Romania fought back from losing the first set but Poland found their way back into the game to call for a tiebreak, where Romania set the pace from start to end. Lidia-Paula Partnoi scored 18 points for the winning side, as Patrycja Lagida registered 21 for Poland in their losing effort.
“It was a very difficult match but we were really motivated to win, especially because in the group stage of the competition we had lost to Poland in three sets,” Partnoi commented.
Classification match 7-8 – Slovenia vs. Slovakia 3-1 (25-18, 25-19, 19-25, 25-18) Slovenia finished their participation in the competition on a high note by securing seventh place after edging Slovakia 3-1 in the match that opened the final day of action at Verde sports complex. Slovenia had claimed fourth place at last year’s U16 tournament in Trieste, but this time they found themselves in a very competitive pool, including the gold and silver medal winners of the event held in the summer of 2019, Turkey and Italy. Selena Leban top scored for Slovenia with 16 points, as Alexandra Fricova registered 17 for Slovakia in their final performance in Podgorica.
“I think that we played a great match. Together we managed to win and show that we are able to make amends for the many mistakes that we had made yesterday against Romania. We showed that we are a good team and that we love Volleyball a lot. These are our best qualities. We deservedly won this game,” said the captain of Slovenia, Julija Grubisic-Cabo.
“We lost today but we tried and gave our best to the end. Luck was not on our side, but next time we will do better,” said Slovakia’s middle blocker Nina Boledovicova.
Final standing
1. Russia * / **
2. Turkey * / **
3. Serbia * / **
4. Italy * / **
5. Romania * / **
6. Poland * / **
7. Slovenia **
8. Slovakia
9. Belarus
10. Bulgaria
11. Montenegro
*Qualified for 2021 FIVB Girls’ U18 World Championship
**Qualified for 2022 European Youth Olympic Festival
Dream Team
Outside hitters: Arina Fedorovtseva (Russia) and Melisa Ege Bükmen (Turkey)
Opposite hitter: Pelin Eroktay (Turkey)
Middle blockers: Natalia Suvorova (Russia) and Hena Kurtagic (Serbia)
Setter: Özge Arslanalp (Turkey)
Libero: Emma Barbero (Italy)
MVP: Arina Fedorovtseva (Russia)
Click here for further information.
News:
CEV – European Volleyball
OZS – Volleyball Federation of Slovenia
SVF – Slovakian Volleyball Federation
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