Greece stuns France in Women's European Volleyball Championship last-16 clash
Greece's women's volleyball team pulled off a surprise straight-sets win over France in the round of 16 at the European Championship, while Serbia recovered to beat Croatia. Greece will face Serbia in the quarterfinals.
The knockout stage of the women's European Volleyball Championship began on Sunday, producing a major upset as Greece swept France 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-20) in Brno. In the day's other last-16 match, Serbia rallied after dropping the first set to defeat Croatia 3-1.
Greece had finished third in its group stage in Brno. On the way to the knockout round, the team lost to host nation Czechia and later to Serbia, but recorded wins over Ukraine, Bulgaria and Austria.
France, meanwhile, opened the tournament strongly with straight-sets wins over Slovakia, Croatia and Montenegro before falling to reigning Olympic and world champions Italy. The two sides had also met at last year's World Championship, where France defeated Greece 3-1 in the group stage.
In the win over France, Martha Evdokia Antouli top-scored with 20 points, while Cyrielle Depuy led France with 12. The victory marked Greece's first appearance in the European Championship's final eight since 1991.
Greece will now face Serbia — champions of the 2018 and 2022 World Championships and the current European runners-up — in the quarterfinals, to be played Wednesday in Czechia. In Serbia's win over Croatia, Aleksandra Uzelac and Tijana Bošković each scored 18 points.
The last-16 round continues Monday with Belgium facing Germany and Turkey playing Azerbaijan, while other pairings set for the same round include the Netherlands against Slovenia, Poland against Portugal, Italy against Bulgaria, and Czechia against Sweden.
