Host countries Croatia and Hungary had a very positive start at the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U19 World Championship as the two European nations won their opening matches in the tournament in front of their home fans on Tuesday.

The two national teams were among the 12 sides that triumphed on the first day of competition, which featured six matches in Osijek, Croatia, and another six in Szeged, Hungary.

The tournament is streamed live on the Volleyball World YouTube channel.

Currently in 35th place in the Age Group World Ranking, Croatia were dominant against 21^st-placed Germany in Osijek. Maintaining a strong rhythm from start to finish, the home team defeated their European rivals 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-22) in front of their loud fans to start their campaign in Pool B with a victory.

Opposite Ana Burilovic and outside hitter Tonka Bošnjak led the Croatian offense with 14 points each, while team captain and outside hitter Michelle Bachmann was the main German scorer with nine points.

“I am super proud of my team because we opened this tournament in the best way possible,” Burilovic commented. “I hope that we can keep up with this rhythm so that we could write a brand-new page in our history. We prepared really well for this match because we played against them some days ago, so we knew what we had to improve to do well. We took advantage of our strength. Our home crowd really supported us, and it helped us to show our game. Being hosts of the World Championship is something special. It is a really great feeling playing in front of our friends, parents. The entire country is watching us.”

In the other matches of the day in Pool B, Türkiye defeated Nigeria by forfeit while the Dominican Republic overcame Puerto Rico 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-13, 25-22).

2023 FIVB Volleyball Girls' U19 World Championship: Match Schedule and Results

In Szeged, Hungary also made great use of their homecourt advantage to secure their first victory in Pool A. The Europeans were faced with U19 World Championship rookies Chile and had no trouble producing a 3-0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-18) victory.

Opposite Mirtill Eróss led the Hungarian victory with 16 points, followed by outside hitters Cecília Jámbor and Lili Radnai, who tallied 12 and ten respectively. Outside hitter Dominga Debarca was Chile’s main scorer with 13 points.

Also in Pool A, China topped Argentina 3-0 (25-12, 25-18, 25-20) and Egypt defeated Cameroon 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-17) in their all-African encounter.

Pool C also had three matches on the opening day of the U19 Girls’ World Championship in Szeged, with Italy defeating Bulgaria 3-1 (25-15, 25-19, 23-25, 25-9), Brazil downing Canada 3-0 (25-23, 25-11, 25-16) and Thailand beating Peru 3-0 (25-10, 29-27, 25-9).

Based in Osijek, Pool D had some of the toughest matches of the day, with the United States defeating Korea 3-2 (25-21, 19-25, 25-21, 23-25, 15-10), Japan dominating Serbia to a 3-2 (25-23, 20-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-12) win and Poland overcoming Mexico 3-1 (25-11, 25-19, 20-25, 27-25).

The tournament continues on Wednesday, with 12 more matches set to be played across the two host cities. The first matches of the day will start at 15:00 local time (13:00 UTC) and will have USA vs. Japan and Türkiye vs. Puerto Rico in Osijek and Egypt vs. Chile in Szeged. Five minutes later, the duel between Italy and Canada will take place in the Hungarian city.

Quick links:
FIVB Volleyball Girls' U19 World Championship
VBTV
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter