The favorites, who play in "Levski Sofia" hall, continue to win their matches with ease

Yesterday, 4 new matches were played in Sofia. Here's what happened on the second day of EuroVolley 2024 in Group A:

1. Portugal – Turkey 1:3 (23:25, 22:25, 25:17, 16:25)

A day after losing the extremely interesting and dramatic match against Finland, yesterday Turkey secured their first victory in the tournament, defeating the Portuguese team with a 3:1 set score. Our southern neighbors won the first 2 sets with a minimal but sufficient difference – 25:23 and 25:22. The third set went to Portugal, who played much better to close the part with a comfortable score of 25:17. However, this did not have a positive effect on the navigators, who in turn suffered a collapse, which allowed Turkey to take revenge – 25:16 in the fourth set, which fixed the final score of the match – 3:1 for our southern neighbors.

2. France – Finland 3:1 (23:25, 28:26, 25:23, 25:19)

The second consecutive clash in "Levski Sofia" hall pitted "the Roosters" against "the Suomi". The entire match was extremely even, with the first set going to Finland after a minimal lead at 25:23. The second part was even more dramatic, with France eventually managing to snatch it, winning 28:26 – 1:1 sets. The third set continued to be completely even, and "the Roosters" managed to make a complete comeback in the match after winning with a score mirroring the first part – 25:23 and 2:1. The fourth set was calmer, which contributed to France's calm closing of the match – after 25:19, the young "Roosters" earned their second success at the European Championship. Finland also showed good volleyball on the court today, but apparently, fatigue also played a role given the previous tough 5-set match against Turkey.

3.     Bulgaria – Ukraine 3:0 (26:24, 25:20, 25:21)

Our "Lions" achieved a second consecutive success at the home European Championship after cleanly defeating the Ukrainian team 3:0 in sets. In the first match, we gave a set to Portugal, but in the match against the Ukrainians, our players played more concentrated and finished their job on the court as quickly as possible. This match was covered in detail by us yesterday. Our boys continue on schedule with victories in their group, which is being played in Sofia.

4. Poland – Austria 3:0 (25:23, 25:14, 25:13)

"Druzyna Polska" closed the second day of matches in "Levski Sofia" hall with another three-set victory – this time their "victim" was the Austrian team. A day after literally crushing Ukraine, Poland did almost the same to the Austrians. Only in the first set was there some intrigue, but the Poles took theirs after 25:23. In the other two, one of the big favorites to win the European crown did not allow any relaxation, leaving "Wunderteam" at 14 and 13 points respectively. With this game and results, Poland solidifies its reputation as a top European team among adolescents in youth volleyball. It is necessary to add that only the Poles and Italians so far have not lost a set in the first two competition days of EuroVolley 2024.

photos: Nikolay Varadinov and cev.eu