Turkish captain Sera Caglar, who was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, led her side to a convincing 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-17) win over hosts Greece to claim the gold medal of the 2026 Women’s U16 Balkan Championship here in Grevena, Western Macedonian city.
Türkiye wrapped the tournament undefeated, having dropped only one set, to Bulgaria on the opening day. It was Greece’s first defeat of this Balkan Championship, as the hosts finished second in the final standings to claim the silver medal.
Caglar was once again top scorer of the Turkish side, bagging 22 points as her side outplayed Greece across all scoring skills, with 10 aces to 5, 49% to 32% in attacking efficiency and 10 to 2 blocks.
Zeynep Berksun added another 15 points for Türkiye and Beren Eralp registered five blocks.
“I feel so happy,” said Caglar after the match, the gold medal hanging from her neck and the MVP trophy in her hand. “We now have the European Championship ahead of us and I hope we can claim the gold there as well. The MVP award means a lot to me personally, because I have worked a lot in training and the matches. I am grateful to my coaches.”
MVP Sera Caglar and BVA Supervisor Ivan Jecmenica
“This was our first tournament together and we are very happy for the first place,” added Turkish Head Coach Ragip Batuhan. “We have a lot of talented players and we need to carry on with the same tempo”.
Earlier, Bulgaria, who had mathematically secured the bronze medal by the time their match came around, found themselves in trouble in the first set as Montenegro failed to convert three set points at 21-24 and another at 24-25, before Dea Ananieva delivered an ace for Bulgaria’s set point. Bulgaria carried on to take the match 3-1 (27-25, 25-16, 18-25, 25-23), though not before Monenegro had bagged their first set of the tournament.
Bulgaria were led by Aleksandra Zanova who scored 16 points, including 6 blocks, but the match high came from Montenegro’s Kaja Miric with 20 points.
“I’m happy with our game and the level of performance we had,” said Bulgaria Head Coach Evelina Tsvetanova, who brought on several subs after the second set. “It has been difficult to become a proper team, as this was the first time we played together. I hope we will have more time in the future to be able to show what we are capable of.”
Meanwhile, Romania stunned Serbia 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 26-24, 10-25, 15-12) to snatch fourth place in the final standings.
Romania could have had an easier time in the third set when they led 24-21 before Serbia cancelled three set points to draw level at 24-24. After a one-sided fourth, Romania quickly broke away 4-0 in the tie-break before Serbia pulled together to even briefly lead at 9-10 and 10-11. It was a 5-1 run by Romania in the end to bring it home.
Serbia produced better blocking with 15 stuffs (to Romania’s 9) and serving with 18 aces to 13, but Romania countered that with better reception and better attacking.
Bianca Tranca scored 26 points for Romania and Adela Vasilescu added another 17, but the match high (also a tournament high) came from Serbia’s Helena Blagojevic with 34 (including 10 aces).
