The first knock-out rounds for the 2019 Women’s European Volleyball Championship have just concluded and the race is on to appear in the final on 8 September. The biennial event was last won in 2017 by Serbia and the team are looking good to claim their third title this year.
Serbia will face Bulgaria in the quarter-finals, and there are also fascinating quarter-final clashes between Italy and Russia, Turkey and the Netherlands, and Poland and Germany.
The Serbian team have looked very strong throughout the competition and they comfortably beat Romania 3-0 in the round of 16. Key Serbian players like Brankica Mihajlovic and Mina Popovic were in great form during this match, although there was a surprising decision to rest star player Tijana Boskovic for the game.
Prior to this, Serbia had commanded Pool A with a perfect five wins out of five, and it would be brave to bet against Zoran Terzic’s team producing yet another winning result in the final. Be sure to check out the odds and promotions that can be used for women’s volleyball tournaments at www.openodds.com to see whether Serbia can continue their domination of the sport.
However, there’s still plenty of spirited opposition left in the 2019 Women’s European Volleyball Championship. Serbia will have to get past Bulgaria who managed to shock Azerbaijan with a very credible 3-0 win in Budapest. Although Bulgarian stars like Nasya Dimitrova could provide a few issues for the European champions, it’s widely expected that Serbia will have the upper hand on Wednesday night.
So who has the best chance of stopping Serbia in their tracks? All eyes will probably be on the Netherlands who have to play one of the hosts, Turkey, in the quarter-finals on Wednesday evening.
The Netherlands came very close to beating Serbia in the 2017 Women’s European Volleyball Championship final and they will be hoping that star players like Yvon Belien and Robin De Kruijf can work their magic against a tough Turkish team. The Netherlands have recorded six straight 3-0 victories in the volleyball tournament and have yet to lose a set so far, but it remains to be seen how they will cope against Turkey.
Anybody who saw Turkey’s 3-2 win over Croatia in the round of 16 will know that this side will take some beating. It was a thrilling match against Croatia and it was thanks to Eda Erdem’s 26 points that the Turkish team booked their place against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
Although Turkey were far from their best against Croatia, they are looking like they could easily upset the Netherlands and book their second successive semi-final appearance at the Women’s European Volleyball Championship.
There’s also a very interesting quarter-final clash between Germany and Poland taking place on Wednesday evening. This will take place in Lodz in Poland, and it’s a game that go either way. Germany booked their place in the quarter-finals by beating Slovenia 3-0 in their sixth straight victory following on from commanding group stage wins against Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and Belarus.
Poland will be a very unpredictable opposing team. They comfortably beat Spain 3-0 in the round of 16, and it will be the first time that the team have reached the quarter-finals. While Poland will enjoy a home advantage, it remains to be seen how they will cope with a formidable German opposition.
The other quarter-final in the 2019 Women’s European Volleyball Championship features an intriguing match between Italy and Russia. Italy have been one of the favourites to win the tournament and it was little surprise to see that they would breeze past Slovakia 3-0 in the round of 16.
Russia booked their place in the quarter-finals with a decent 3-1 victory over Belgium, although it is questionable whether they can progress to the finals. While there is plenty of talent within the Russian team, they might struggle against bigger teams like Serbia and the Netherlands. All of which shows that Wednesday evening could be a very interesting moment for women’s volleyball.
