Wednesday’s matches further cemented the leading role that some stars have been playing since the very beginning of their journey in the CEV EuroVolley 2019 Women. It is not only about the number of points they scored, but also about their attitude as well as their ability to drive their teams forward.
Pool A – Eda Erdem Dündar (TUR)
The charismatic team captain of Turkey was again the undisputed leader of the hosts as they stormed to a 3-0 victory over France. Eda is by far the most popular among the players representing the ‘Sultans of the Net’ and 10,500 fans did almost never stop calling out her name after she scored a point – or before and after the match as well.
The star middle blocker was happy with her team’s performance, delighted at the support from the fans and very much hoping that Turkey can repeat the same quality performance on Thursday when playing reigning World and European champions Serbia for the top spot in the pool.
Pool B – Britt Herbots (BEL)
Belgium handled the pressure when playing their Polish hosts and Britt Herbots was definitely the most reliable player on the court today. With 109 points scored in five games, Herbots is currently the best scorer of the whole EuroVolley tournament. Teammates really trust the 19-year-old outside spiker, who ended today’s game with a 42% success rate in attack (27/64) and seemed rather relaxed in the mixed-zone afterwards. After the huge tiebreak win, Herbots said that it required “some craziness to beat a top team like Poland” and that more such craziness is to come from the Yellow Tigers.
Pool C – Samanta Fabris (CRO)
After a very disappointing performance in the matchup with Estonia on Tuesday, Fabris - the 27-year-old captain and opposite hitter of Croatia - scored a match high 25 points - 20 from her successful attacks - in a fierce battle against EuroVolley co-hosts Hungary.
She always made the right decision, not only regarding actions, but also in case of challenges. In a nail-biting and decisive part of the third set, when Croatia cancelled five set points for Hungary and needed as many as six match points of their own before seizing the victory, she kept a clear mind and she helped her teammates stay focussed and calm. Thus, a few minutes later, Croatia started their celebrations for securing a spot in the 8th Finals of the competition.
Pool D – Jana Franziska Poll (GER)
Germany’s outside hitter scored the most points (11) in the match with Belarus. Six of these points came during the first set, where Germany totally imposed their supremacy for a 25-10 landslide win.
Poll’s powerful spikes and five break points helped her team secure a fifth straight victory in the tournament and the top spot in Pool D in Bratislava. Poll has scored 61 points in the competition this far and together with Louisa Lippmann she has been one of the keys to Germany’s success in the Slovak capital.