Italy and Turkey to meet in European volleyball championship final
Italy and Turkey won their women's volleyball European Championship semifinals in Istanbul on Saturday and will face each other in Sunday's final.
Saturday's semifinals of the women's volleyball European Championship in Istanbul produced two finalists that had both previously faced Latvia's national team in the group stage.
Italy defeated Poland 3-1, with set scores of 25:19, 25:19, 21:25, 25:16. Poland had played Latvia in the group phase. Paola Ogechi Egonu led Italy's scoring with 20 points, while Julia Ściurska was Poland's top scorer with 15 points. Italy earned 18 points through blocking.
In the second semifinal, Turkey — also a group-stage opponent of Latvia — beat Serbia 3-0, with sets ending 25:20, 25:19, 25:20. Cuban-born Melissa Vargas led Turkey with 18 points, while Tijana Bošković was Serbia's top scorer with 14 points.
Bronze and gold medal matches
Both remaining matches will be played on Sunday: the bronze medal match starts at 16:00, followed by the final between Italy and Turkey at 19:00. Both matches will be broadcast live on the LTV7 channel.
This year marked Latvia's first appearance at the European Championship final tournament since 1997. The Latvian team recorded one win in Group A, finishing fifth in the group and failing to advance to the knockout stage, ending the tournament in 20th place overall.
The European Championship concludes on Sunday. Group matches were held in Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Sweden, while the round of 16 and quarterfinals took place in Istanbul and Brno, Czech Republic, with the four decisive matches held in Istanbul.
