On Friday night, the senior women’s national team of North Macedonia secured a truly historic victory after defeating Luxembourg 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-15) in the first match of the home tournament they are contesting in Strumica for the CEV European Silver League 2025.
This is the first European joy after a long hiatus of 17 years, considering that they last won in October 2008 when, while playing EuroVolley 2009 qualifiers at the SRC Kale in Skopje, they beat Iceland 3-1.
The hosts played an excellent match – looking calm, motivated and with one goal – a home triumph! They had a good opening and secured a 10-7 lead in the first set, before they conceded a series of technical errors and Luxembourg took its first lead at 10-11. After the time-out asked by coach Stefan Paunović, North Macedonia scored four times in a row, and the decisive service series of Tea Terzievska moving the score to 20-12 proved to be the decisive one, with the home favourites comfortably cruising to a 25-16 win.
It was evident that Luxembourg was a rival that the home side could withstand, so in the second set the score remained close only in the opening minutes, before Simona Stojanovska served solidly and with the support of her teammates, who looked confident at the net, North Macedonia doubled their lead in the match (25-19).
In the third set it was clear that the opponent had not much chance to turn the tide. Paunović gave everyone in the squad a chance and each member contributed to the victory. With 25-15, the hosts recorded a maximum result, which has a historic significance.
Terzievska led the team with 14 points, followed by Ana Fasuleva with nine, Ana Pavloska had eight, while Tamara Stojanova and Simona Stojanovska finished on a personal tally of seven and six, respectively.
On Saturday, North Macedonia has a free day, while Luxembourg will face Switzerland at 8 pm. North Macedonia will take to the court again on Sunday, at 8 pm, when they face Switzerland on the last day of the tournament.