Greece and Türkiye remain undefeated after three rounds of play Thursday at the U16 Women’s Balkan Championship that is taking place in Greek city Grevena.
Host team did not produce their best performance, but nonetheless it was more than enough to win against Montenegro 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-21) and remain unbeaten.
Greece did give away a full set’s-worth of unforced errors, but once again produced all-around scoring with Emilia Grigoriadou bringing in a match high of 13 and Konstantina Lambrousi and Dafni Kornakia adding another 10 each. Milena Muratovic was the only Montengrin to venture into double digits with 10 points.
“It’s a beautiful feeling,” said Greece captain Konstantina Tsatsou, a local Grevena girl. “We tried our best in all our matches so far, and will put in an effort to reduce our unforced errors. But we look ahead and carry on for our next wins. We are a capable team, but we take our matches one at a time.”
Romania cancelled two set points of Türkiye at 24-22 in the first, as they drew level, but saw them drop the set before Türkiye carried on for an otherwise comfortable victory 3-0 (26-24, 25-15, 25-17) to stay undefeated and on full points at the top of the table.
Türkiye enjoyed a wholesome attacking efficiency of 46%, as Sera Cadlar once again led the charge scoring a match high of 19 points to counter Romania’s best of 15 from Bianca Tranca.
Bulgaria scored a great win 3-1 (25-9, 25-22, 11-25, 25-19) over Serbia, as they jumped to third place in the standings.
The winning side kept unforced errors to an acceptable level, as Maria Bakova with a match high of 18 points and Radostina Dobrava with another 16 led the scoring.
“I believe we played really well,” said Bulgaria captain Lora Rodopska after the match. “We showed that we can produce high-level volleyball, with strong serving and precise attacking. We are thrilled and want to carry on this was, keep winning and take first place.”
Day 4 (the penultimate) in this single round-robin tournament continues here on Friday. Serbia clash with Türkiye to open proceedings. Montenegro and Romania are both still winless and setless, but something has to give when they go head-to-head. And hosts Greece take on Bulgaria hoping to extend their winning streak.