Bulgaria finished in fifth place at the Balkan Euro-qualification for U20 women in Mostar. In their last match, our national team defeated Serbia with 3:2 (25:23, 25:15, 17:25, 15:25, 16:14) after 123 minutes of play.
Denislav Dimitrov's girls started excellently and took a 2:0 lead after 25:23 and 25:15. However, Serbia managed to bring back the intrigue by winning the next two sets with 25:17 and 25:15.
Thus, the winner had to be determined in a tie-break. Bulgaria showed stronger nerves in the decisive moments and closed the fifth set with 16:14 for the final 3:2.
Interestingly, despite the victory, Bulgaria finished the match with fewer points won – 98 against 102 for Serbia. The difference accumulated mainly in the decisively lost third and fourth sets.
With this success, Bulgaria finished the tournament in fifth place in the overall standings.
However, the battle for the quota will be decided in the third-place match between Turkey and Romania. The reason is that Russia and Belarus, who are participating in the tournament, reached the final, but their results are not taken into account when allocating quotas for the European Championship.
Thus, the Turkey – Romania match practically becomes a direct clash for the quota, even though it is officially a third-place match. The Russia – Belarus final will determine the tournament winner, but it has no bearing on the European qualification.

photo:cev.eu