Turkey claims third straight win at Women's European Volleyball Championship, Croatia ends losing streak
Host nation Turkey secured its third consecutive victory at the Women's European Volleyball Championship group stage by beating Hungary, while Croatia finally celebrated its first tournament win after eight straight lost sets.
The group stage of the Women's European Volleyball Championship continues across four host cities — Istanbul, Brno, Baku and Gothenburg — with the top four teams from each group advancing to the round of 16.
In Latvia's group, played in Istanbul, host nation Turkey earned its third win in three matches, defeating Hungary in three sets. Hungary had built a three-point lead late in the first set but failed to convert a set point and ultimately lost it. Naturalized Cuban player Melisa Vargas led Turkey's scoring with 24 points.
Other groups
The leaders of the other three groups — Serbia, Azerbaijan and France — also picked up their third consecutive wins. Serbia beat Bulgaria in three sets, and France defeated Montenegro, also in straight sets. Host nation Azerbaijan, however, needed all five sets to get past Romania despite winning the first two, closing out the decisive fifth set 15:8. Polina Rahimova top-scored for Azerbaijan with 26 points, followed by Yelizaveta Rubana with 24.
It was Romania's second consecutive five-set defeat, having also lost to the Netherlands the previous day. Slovakia suffered a similar fate, squandering a two-set lead against Croatia. The win was Croatia's first at the championship after eight consecutive lost sets, with Samanta Fabris top-scoring for the winners with 27 points. Slovakia's Karina Sunderlikova scored 30 points, but it was not enough to prevent defeat.
Latvia's national team, which had earlier lost to Poland, will rest on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday's match against Slovenia. Elsewhere in the group, Hungary will face Germany and Poland will meet Slovenia.
