Russia's players celebrate reaching the U20 World Championship
Lausanne, Switzerland, May 21, 2017 – Russia and Poland will be packing their bags later in the summer to travel to Mexico for the FIVB Volleyball Women’s U20 World Championship, after they won through qualifying at the CEV European Qualifiers on Sunday.
By topping their pools, they will both now compete in the U20 World Championship that takes place in Mexico from July 14-23.
The two pools were split between Turgutlu in Turkey and Wieliczka in Poland. Russia topped Pool E in Turkey, while Poland delighted their home fans by winning Pool F.
Russia faced a winner takes all match against hosts Turkey and had to fight back from losing the first two sets to eventually prevail 3-2 (19-25, 17-25, 25-21, 25-21, 15-10) in 118 minutes.
Poland also went into their match knowing that the victory would earn a place in Mexico, but they held their nerve against Belgium to win 3-1 (25-17, 28-30, 25-13, 25-17).
In the other matches on Sunday, Germany beat Bulgaria 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-23) in Poland, while the Netherlands were victorious against Croatia, 3-0 (25-20, 25-9, 25-15).