Our U18 girls will play in the grand final tomorrow against the winner of the second semifinal between Poland and Belgium.
The Bulgarian national girls' volleyball team qualified for the final of the European Volleyball Championship, which will be played tomorrow in the Romanian city of Blaj, after defeating the Italian team in a breathtaking match with a score of 3:2 sets. The match lasted almost two and a half hours.
Our "Lionesses" started the semifinal match with the following lineup: libero and captain Viktoria Ninova, Darina Naneva, Dimana Ivanova, Vyara Parapunova, Denitsa Angelova, Nikol Okoro, and Kalina Veneva.
For the "Azzurrine", the starters were Giorgia Sari, Caterina Peroni, Martina Susio, Veronica Chiero, Giovanna Fratangelo, Ludovica Tosini, and libero Stella Caruso, with the Italian captain being the second player in that position – Carola Bonafede.
Bulgaria started the match better and quickly took a 3:0 lead. Italy reduced their deficit, but our girls subsequently extended their lead more seriously to 10:5 after good serving and attacking. This forced the coach of the "Squadra Azzurra" to take his first timeout of the set and the match. Our "Lionesses" continued to trouble Italy's reception, which led to an 8-point lead – 13:5. Italy gradually recovered from the big shock and reduced their deficit to 4 at 9:13, which prompted Antonina Zetova to take her first timeout. After that, Italy cut the deficit to just 2 points at 12:14. Bulgaria briefly regained a comfortable lead at 17:12, but 3 consecutive points from the Italians forced our coach to take her second timeout of the set at 17:15. The Bulgarians calmly maintained their lead until the end of the set, and Italy's coach requested his second timeout in the set at 23:19. First set point for our "Lionesses" after the very next rally – 24:19, and they managed to deservedly win the set on their second attempt – 25:20 and 1:0 sets after a service error by an Italian volleyball player.
The second set started better for Italy, who took a 6:3 lead, and at 9:6, Antonina Zetova took her first timeout. This had an immediate effect, and we took the next 3 points to make it 9:9, and thanks to an attack error by the "Squadra Azzurra", we even briefly took an 11:10 lead. The game went point for point, with the Italians leading 15:13, but Bulgaria again took the lead – 16:15. Italy again led at 18:16, which forced Zetova to take her second timeout in this set. This time it didn't help, and the Italians increased their lead to 5 points at 21:16. First timeout for the "Azzurrine" coach Michele Fanni at 21:18. An error in our opponents' court reduced our deficit to just one point – 22:23. Italy reached their first set point at 24:22, but another error by them prevented them from capitalizing immediately. Our opponent, however, played the second part much better, while our concentration dropped, which logically affected the final result – on their second chance, the "Squadra Azzurra" closed the set at 25:23 and equalized the sets at 1:1.
Bulgaria forgot the unpleasant end of the previous set and in the third, took a 4:1 lead after a good serving run. An attack error by our team, however, tied the score at 5:5, and subsequently, Italy took a 9:7 lead. At this moment, Antonina Zetova called a timeout for Bulgaria, and a little later, with a nice ace, we took an 11:10 lead. Another point for the "Lionesses" and the Italian coach interrupted the game at 12:10. A long video review led to an important point for the Bulgarian volleyball players, and after that, our lead grew to 3 at 15:12 – here came the second timeout in the third set for Italy's coach. This contributed to an improvement in their play, and the Italians equalized the score at 17:17. The game continued to be point for point in the next few rallies, but subsequently, the Bulgarians managed to forge a valuable 4-point lead – 23:19. The "Lionesses" once again showed their true colors in the final minutes – especially on serve, as Bulgaria got a set point at 24:20. We managed to win the set on our very first opportunity – 25:20 and a new 2:1 lead after a nice block out from an attack in zone 4.
The fourth set started much better for Italy – they took an early 4:0 lead, and this forced the Bulgarian coach to take her first timeout very early. Unfortunately, our opponents' lead grew alarmingly by 8 points – 12:4. A second timeout for Bulgaria, taken by Antonina Zetova, at 14:6 for the "Squadra Azzurra". This did not have any positive effect on our team, and the Italians' 8-point lead continued to remain on the scoreboard in the following minutes, even reaching 10 at 19:9. The quality of play in our ranks definitely dropped drastically, which contributed to our opponents' large lead. In this way, the set was played out, although the Italian coach Michele Fanni was forced to take a timeout at 23:16 for his team. Italy's first set point was saved by our girls at 24:16, but on their second attempt, the "Azzurrine" took the set 25:17, thereby taking the semifinal clash to a tie-break.
The Italians continued their inspiration at the beginning of the decisive fifth set, taking a 3:0 lead. Antonina Zetova immediately called a timeout and Bulgaria got back into the tie-break after a good serving run – we reduced our deficit to 4:5, but Italy regained their 3-point lead at 7:4. The second timeout in the fifth set for the Bulgarian volleyball players came at 9:6 for the opponent. In the next rallies, the "Azzurrine" increased their lead to 4 points at 12:8. Italy reached their first match point at 14:10, but their subsequent service error still kept Bulgaria in the match. Another point for the "Lionesses" forced Michele Fanni to call a timeout at 14:12 for his team. The Bulgarians did not give up and saved a third match point – 14:13. Our good serve led to saving a fourth consecutive match point – 14:14! A service error and another match point for the Italians – they also returned our gesture and sent their serve out – 15:15. Another chance for Italy to win at 16:15, but Bulgaria again saved the opportunity – 16:16. In turn, the "Lionesses" got their first match point in the match at 17:16 after an error in the opponent's block at the net. Bulgaria attacked successfully from zone 4 – a success for our girls that propelled us to the final of the European U18 Girls' Volleyball Championship! A 3:2 set victory and an 18:16 win in the tie-break deservedly and hard-fought led us to the last match, which will determine the European champion! Bulgaria's opponent in tomorrow's final will be determined by the winner of the second semifinal later today between Poland and Belgium.
Rejoice, Bulgarians! Bulgaria is once again in the final of a European Volleyball Championship in the women's category!
