German team with 14
errors in first set against Russia
And the set ended 23:25...8 errors alone in serve, many of them coming in the last part of the set.
They had to take major risks to extert pressure on the Russian reception and failed. And as usual, if Germany meets Russia in volleyball, there is no doubt who is the favorite...
I didn't expect too such good and convincing performances by Italy, especially considering the pool isn't that easy. Enweonwu is really powerful and is dominating the tournament up to now... if I'm not mistaken she's Egonu's cousin... and we can see it 
Italy playing with the titular.
I expected that but I had the doubt. I still guess that if things will get particularly well (not at the moment, 18-15 for Ned) alo the subs will find space...
Italy playing with the titular.
I expected that but I had the doubt. I still guess that if things will get particularly well (not at the moment, 18-15 for Ned) alo the subs will find space...
They found space anyway... Italy is playing not that well, while Ned is defending and blocking really well and Italy is forcing in attack making many mistakes.
Yeah, the first set loss...
My opinion: better now when it doesn't matter, than in the semi; if they would have lost in the semi the first set ever it could have brought ghosts/fears alive..
Eventually we managed to win, good job girls! 
Ned was still able to grab the qualification to the WCh.
Semi: Italy vs Serbia and Bielorussia vs Russia
A little wonder with some luck performed by Germany: they beat in a very close three-setter Bulgaria (who I considered as favorite in that match) and than Russia did them the favor to defeat Turkey in four, and those landed hard at the bottom of the group, considered before as one of the favorites. Therefore finally the German NT grabbed the required 4th place in group very closely and keep chances to qualify for WC. This is the main objective for them, in that group of death they had no real chance to get to the semis...
According to Statistics so far...
Italian MB Marina Lubian is the best spiker among MB.
Italian OPP Terry Enweonwu and Italian OH Elena Pietrini are the best spikers among wing spikers.
Enweonwu is also the best server.
Russian OPP Viktoriia Pushina is the best blocker.
Serbian OH Jovana Mirosavljevic is the best receiver.
Despite Italy has crushed Serbia in the first set, Serbia managed to fight back and won 2nd set. Enweonwu and Pietrini are the best prospects for Italy...
What a turn-around for Serbia! Now they are commanding!
So Italy won in the end the tie-break against Serbia and meets once more Russia in the final, the last terminated the astonishing run of belorussia in the semis clearly in three sets. All four semi participants will fly to Argentina world championships anyways, additionally the two victorious teams of 5-8 matches, Germany and Slovenia, which will now fight for place 5 against each other.
The major surprise was the feeble result of Turkey, which was ruling in many such competitions the last years but not even made it into the 5-8 placement round this time - even considering, that they were in the pool of death. By the way, you can see now, that both finalists come from that pool.
Final match starting now on Laola. For this match there's also a full production, not only one camera as in the other matches.
Final match starting now on Laola. For this match there's also a full production, not only one camera as in the other matches.
Am I the only one having trouble with the stream?
There's a much better stream on EuroVolley's FB site: https://www.facebook.com/CEVEuroVolley/
Great match between Italy and Russia. The actions on the court were not comparable with those of the German team. At least one category better.
Russia was actually quite unimpressive, but their main strength was to make very few mistakes. For me Italy played the more attractive volleyball but with too many errors, 19 in attack compared to only 7 from Russia for example.
Well, congrats to Russia!
I'm very sorry for the Italian girls, but at the same time I'm proud of them because I wondered the last days if they would had been able to overcome a difficulty having has such a clear path in the pool, and they proved me wrong: yesterday they came back after being 2-1 for Serbia and finally won the match, today they did the same vs Russia except for the tie break.
I'll say that nobody could have thought that we didn't deserved the victory in case we would won, but I must also say that I really admire the fact that Russia could forget the terrible beginning with two loss in a row (and both 3-0) and eventually grab the Gold 
Russia was actually quite unimpressive, but their main strength was to make very few mistakes. For me Italy played the more attractive volleyball but with too many errors, 19 in attack compared to only 7 from Russia for example.
I found the performance through the whole competition fairly ugly as most of the players are way too young. I would say, Rus demonstrated a decent work of the coaching team while Ita keeps impressing by their scouting successes, presumably across the Mediterranean. The Ita opp looks physically fully mature to me, cf Leon playing for Cuban youth team some time ago.
They had to take major risks to extert pressure on the Russian reception and failed. And as usual, if Germany meets Russia in volleyball, there is no doubt who is the favorite...
You can safely extend the last statement to pretty much any competitive activity, apart from football, car manufacturing and arriving to the meetings on time :).