Bulgaria was on the verge of winning the title at the first U16 Women's Balkan Championship. Unfortunately, our girls dramatically lost to Turkey with 2:3 (20:25, 25:16, 25:17, 23:25, 12:15). Thus, our team finishes in second place after managing to defeat Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia.

Turkey took the lead early in the first set, and we managed to narrow the gap to 13:16. From then on, Turkey dominated until the end, also aided by our service errors. One such error brought the end of the set - 20:25.
In the second part, the teams battled hard, and we took a 5:3 lead. After an ace and a dump by our players, the score became 6:3. Turkey equalized at 10:10, after which our team pulled ahead by 4 points, forcing Turkey to call a timeout. The second timeout for our southern neighbors came at 19:12. From then until the end of the set, Vradislav Todorov-Sarata's girls did not lose the initiative and legitimately closed the part with 25:16.
Turkey took the lead in the third set, but we managed to erase the difference, pulling ahead by 4 points to 8:4 after our ace. Two attacks and a block followed, making the score 11:5. Turkey took a second timeout, but it didn't help, and the difference grew to 14:6. The Turkish team made a series of three points, forcing Bulgaria to call a timeout. We gradually increased our momentum to reach a 9-point lead in our favor. The opponent managed to narrow the deficit to 5 points when we managed to break Turkey's serve which was bothering us in reception. After a good serve and a smart dump, we made it 23:16. A block-out by our team followed, and the first set point for Bulgaria. We couldn't convert the first, but on the second attempt, we closed the set with 25:17.
The fourth set was the most dramatic for our team. Turkey led 0:2, a dump by our setter and good net play made it 2:2. Turkey's first timeout came at 8:4 for the Bulgarians. We maintained a comfortable lead until the middle of the set, 13:9. After the opponent's second timeout, a series of errors by us brought the score to 14:14. We managed to stop the negative streak after a dump, making it 15:14. Several equalizations and one-point leads by both teams followed. The turning point occurred at yet another equalization, 19:19. An out-of-bounds serve by our team followed, after which the Turkish team scored two points from serve, making it 19:22. The first set point for the Turkish team came after a dump by their setter - 21:24. We managed to get two points back, but after a dump by Turkey's middle blocker, the set ended, and with it, the tie-break.
We won the first point, and after a long rally, a good serve and a counter-attack made the score 2:0. After a wrong lineup by Turkey, we reached a three-point difference, 4:1. The Turkish team equalized and even took the lead after an ace, which forced our staff to make a substitution, bringing our team captain into the game. She was the one broken on serve, through whom the Turkish team scored 3 points. However, this did not lead to her removal. We managed to reduce the difference to two points with a block, 12:14, but our strength reached its limit there. A block by Turkey ended the match. 12:15.

Antonia Stanislavova and Gabriela Petkova were included in the Ideal Team of the U16 Girls' Balkan Championship, which our country hosted. Stanislavova became the Best Second Middle Blocker, and Petkova received the award for Best Second Outside Hitter.