Greece and Türkiye both remained undefeated after four rounds of play at the U16 Balkan Championship in Grevena, confirming a highly anticipated clash for gold in the closing match of the round-robin tournament, which now takes the shape of a final.
Bulgaria pounded an unconvincing Greece from the service line and led twice, but the hosts came back to force a tie-break and were emphatic in producing a very solid performance in the decider and claim a 3-2 (16-25, 25-23, 19-25, 25-20, 15-8) win.
It was only the second tie-break of the tournament after 12 matches – and both were won by Greece.
Greece gave away a full set’s-worth of points with some poor receiving during the regular match, but in general produced a more efficient attack and better blocking to overcome Bulgaria.
Bulgaria’s Maria Bakova produced the match high of 26 points (including as many as 9 aces), but it was Greece that had a better distribution of scoring with 19 from Emilia Grigoriadou, 13 from Dafni Kornakia and 12 from Vasiliki Drouga.
“This is truly a great win,” said Greece Head Coach Thanassis Strantzalis. “It’s very positive that our girls have the ability to turn matches around. This proves that they have the right mentality and a lot of soul in them as they try to leave nothing to chance.”
With a stunning tournament high of 31 points, including 7 aces and 24/40 for an impressive 60% in attack, Sera Cadlar powered Turkey to a 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-16) sweep of Serbia. Serbia were more powerful on the block with 8 stuffs (to 5), but were otherwise overpowered by Turkey’s pressure from the service line and in attack.
Romania registered their first win of the tournament, shutting out Montenegro 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-20), on the back of 20 points (including 3 aces, 3 blocks and 14/23 for 61% in attack) from Bianca Tranca. Adela Vasilescu added another 14 for Romania. The winners dominated across the board, leaving Montenegro still winless and setless at the bottom of the table.
“This is what we’d been waiting for,” said Romania Head Coach Alexandra Trica. “I have a good feeling for this team that has had little time together. But I see improvement day by day and this is our success.”
“We tried to fight against a good team and, although Romania beat us, at certain moments during the match we delivered competitiveness,” said Montenegro Head Coach Luka Bogojevic. “We still need to work on tactics and technique, but the more matches we play the more we will improve.”
The Balkan Championship wraps up here on Saturday with Romania facing Serbia, Montenegro playing Bulgaria and culminating with the Greece vs Türkiye match for gold.