Azerbaijan’s team shines at women’s EuroVolley

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan’s spectacular run at the historic women’s EuroVolley they are co-hosting together with Georgia continued on Sunday as the hosts rallied to a comprehensive 3-0 victory (25-14, 25-21, 25-23) over Poland to cement their leadership in Pool A.

The national team is set to improve their best #EuroVolleyW result to date, i.e. the fourth place they achieved back in 2005 in Croatia.

Azerbaijan stormed to a thunderous 25-14 win in the opening set of their matchup with Poland, much to the delight of an almost sell-out crowd.

The second set was a much different story with Poland fighting for every point and keeping the score close until the second technical timeout (16-14). At this stage, Azerbaijan found more consistency in their game, producing an impressive run (22-16) with Polina Rahimova and Natalya Mammadova being their main assets. Poland put up a fight (23-20) but Rahimova secured four set points for the home side – and she was responsible for sealing Azerbaijan’s 25-21 win to double the hosts’ lead in the match.

In a sort of ‘crescendo’, the match grew in intensity and quality in the third set – where Poland edged ahead a few times and had a little advantage towards the end (23-21) before Azerbaijan’s comeback sparked much enthusiasm among the crowd in attendance. The hosts scored four points in a row and the match eventually ended in a 3-0 victory for the home side – the second such score line in as many matches as they had produced the same result in their opening game with Hungary on Friday.

The host team will face with Germany next in the Group matches.

The semi-finals will take place on Saturday, September 30 before the competition reaches its climax on October 1 with the medal matches.

The competition – which coincides with the most high-profile Volleyball event ever organized in these countries – will continue through to October 1 when the new European champions are set to be crowned at the iconic National Gymnastics Arena in Baku.