The 2025 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U19 World Championship pool stage is over and the match-ups for the first round of playoff games are set. Argentina and Thailand snatched the last remaining spots in Tuesday’s semifinals and will continue in the bracket leading up to Sunday’s medal games.

The eighthfinal match-ups shaped up as follows:

Croatia v Türkiye
Germany v USA
Bulgaria v Mexico
Poland v Thailand
Brazil v Belgium
Chinese Taipei v Japan
China v Serbia
Italy v Argentina

The first playoffs in the race for the 17^th place will offer the following fixtures:

Canada v Peru
Spain v Egypt
Puerto Rico v Tunisia
Chile v Dominican Republic

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Pool A

By taking two sets from pool leaders Croatia, Thailand edged ahead of Canada and Egypt in the three-way race for the fourth place in Pool A and took the pool’s last ticket to the eighthfinals.

Mexico ended their Pool A campaign on a high after defeating Egypt in straight sets, 3-0 (25-12, 25-23, 26-24), at the Gradski Vrt hall in Osijek on Monday. The North Americans outscored Egypt in attack, blocking and serving, but it was their spiking prowess (42 spike kills against Egypt’s 26) that handed them the win. On a 3-2 win-loss record and 9 points, Mexico secured third place in the final Pool A standings. Egypt finished on 1-4 and 3 and had to wait for the outcome of the remaining matches in the pool to find out their final position in the table. Outside hitter Naomi Alejandra Cruz Toledo returned a game-high 17 points (14 spike kills, 2 kill blocks, 1 ace) for Mexico, while her Egyptian counterpart Salma Elbehiry led Egypt with 11 points (9, 0, 2).

Croatia will head into the round of 16 as one of the unbeaten teams in the World Championship after digging deep and putting up a remarkable 18 kill blocks to overcome Thailand by 3-2 (19-25, 25-17, 25-19, 20-25, 15-8) in a thrilling five-set encounter. Star opposite Asja Zolota once again top-scored for the hosts with 22 points (14, 7, 1), while her counterpart Natthawan Phatthaisong replied for Thailand with 16 points, all from attack. With a 5-0 win-loss record, the hosts finished top of Pool C on 13 points, while Thailand’s spirited fight kept them in contention for a place in the eighthfinals, pending the outcome of the last match in the pool. The Asian team wound up the preliminary round on 1-4 and 4.

Germany were in no mood for favors as they overcame Canada by 3-1 (18-25, 25-16, 25-15, 25-23) in their last Pool A match on Monday. Canada came into this match needing a win of any kind to sneak into the round of 16 and looked destined for victory after claiming the first set. However, Germany fought back like a well-oiled machine to claim the next three sets and relegate Canada to the playoff matches for 17^th place. The win left the Europeans on 13 points, level with top-ranked Croatia, but with an inferior win-loss record of 4-1. The North Americans ended the preliminary round fifth in the pool on 1-4 and 3. Opposite Marika Loker led the German onslaught with 21 points (17, 0, 4), while Canada’s captain, outside hitter Sol Henson, replied with 11 points (8, 1, 2). Outside Sofia Zabjek added another 11 (9, 1, 1) for the losing team.

Pool B

In a dramatic ending of the matches in Pool B, Argentina did slightly better than Puerto Rico to earn the fourth place in the final standings and progress to the eighthfinals.

Argentina did the least they had to do in Monday’s Pool B opener in Vrnjacka Banja to preserve their chances of qualifying for the eighthfinals. They squeezed out a hard-fought 3-2 (25-21, 21-25, 22-25, 25-23, 15-12) victory over Dominican Republic with a match-high 24 points (20, 1, 3) from 14-year-old outside Sofia Emilia Baldo to finish on 2-3 and 4, while leaving the opponents winless at the bottom of the standings on 0-5 and 1. 15-year-old opposite Rayni Merab Mondesi Arias led the Dominicans with 20 points (16, 4, 0). Now the South American team had their destiny in the hands of Puerto Rico, relying on them losing to Chinese Taipei in the late match on Monday in order to progress to the best 16.

Before that, already qualified Serbia and Brazil engaged in a four-set duel. The South Americans remained undefeated and topped the pool standings on 5-0 and 14 after a 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 25-12, 25-21) turnaround against the home team in Vrnjacka Banja. Serbia finished the pool on 3-2 and 9 and had to wait for the last match to find out their final position in the table. Brazil’s outside Mikaela Hestmann Tierno impressed with as many as six aces towards her team’s success. She added a kill block and 11 kills in attack to her tally to finish with 18 points, one less that the game’s top scorer, opposite Luize Da Silva Tavares (18, 1, 0). Opposite Bojana Ristanovic led the Serbian scorers with 9 points (7, 0, 2).

Any win over Chinese Taipei would have propelled Puerto Rico to the eighthfinals, but they started off by losing the first two sets. They attempted a desperate comeback and managed to level the score, but stopped short of taking the tie-breaker and the opportunity to advance. The Asian team registered a 3-2 (25-22, 25-19, 22-25, 20-25, 15-12) victory and finished pool runners-up on 4-1 and 11, leaving the squad from the Caribbean in fifth place on 1-4 and 6, and propelling Argentina to the best 16 of the tournament. 15-year-old middle blocker Wu Tzu-Hua led Chinese Taipei to success with 21 points (16, 4, 1). With 13 points apiece, Pamela Zoe Agosto (9, 3, 1) and Kalia Isabel Alvarado (13, 0, 0) were Puerto Rico’s most prolific scorers.

Pool C

Poland maintained their unbeaten run in the pool stage of the tournament after edging out Spain by 3-2 (20-25, 25-15, 25-23, 23-25, 15-8) in Osijek on Monday to secure the top spot in the final Pool C standings. The Poles have amassed 13 points from a 5-0 win-loss record, while Spain’s 1-4 yielded 4 points, which was not enough for a spot in the round of 16. Poland’s outside hitter Natasza Ornoch inspired their comeback with 16 points (14, 0, 2). On the other hand, Spain had a new hero in outside hitter Aina Ginesta Romera, who topped the scorers charts with 22 points (20, 0, 2).

Bulgaria condemned Peru to their fifth consecutive loss at the World Championship after completing a 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-23) sweep against the South Americans on Monday. The convincing win improved the European champions’ win-loss record to 4-1 to secure them a second-place finish in Pool C with 10 points. Darina Naneva, the 15-year-old middle blocker, led Bulgaria with a game-high 16 points (12, 2, 2), while opposite Alondra Villanueva Gamio replied with 9 points (8, 1, 0) for the losing team.

USA outlasted Türkiye by 3-1 (25-19, 20-25, 25-22, 25-23) in an epic four-set battle in Osijek. In what was a remake of the 2023 final, USA were dominant from the serving line (10 to 3 aces) to finish third in the group on 3-2 and 11. Türkiye, on the other hand, settled for fourth on 2-3 and 7. Outside hitter Suliane Davis marshaled the defending champions with a match-high 21 points (15, 2, 4), while Türkiye’s Aylin Uysalcan led the Europeans from the front with 17 points (15, 2, 0).

Pool D

Tunisia and Chile put up an epic battle in search for their first and last win in Pool D and it was the South Americans that got to celebrate victorious in the 3-2 (18-25, 25-19, 25-22, 18-25, 16-14) rollercoaster that opened the day at the Trstenik hall near Vrnjacka Banja. Their 16-year-old outside and captain Aina Grimalt once again spearheaded Chile with a team-high 24 points (20, 3, 1), while the top scorer honors of the match were shared by Tunisia’s opposite and captain Sinda Ben Hamida (22, 2, 2) and outside 16-year-old outside Eya Toumi (23, 2, 1) with 26 points apiece. With this, Chile finished fifth in Pool D on 1-4 and 2, and Tunisia took sixth place on 0-5 and 1.

In the second Pool D match of the day, China achieved a 3-0 (25-18, 27-25, 25-21) victory over Belgium to improve to 4-1 and 11, secure a top-three finish and leave their European opponents in fourth place on 2-3 and 6. Opposite and captain Huang Yuexin contributed a match-high 16 points (10, 4, 2). Outside Janne Deleu was Belgium’s most prolific scorer with 14 points (12, 1, 1).

The last match in the pool could have reshuffled the top three places in the final pool standings, but with Italy producing a 3-1 (25-21, 16-25, 25-22, 25-21) over Japan, they remained on top on 5-0 and 15. Japan remained in third place on 3-2 and 10, leaving China in between as pool runners-up. Japan’s 16-year-old opposite Rion Chuganji was the best scorer of the game with 24 points (23, 0, 1), while Ludovica Tosini led the winners with 14 (11, 1, 2).

2025 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U19 World Championship: schedule and results
2025 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U19 World Championship: final pool standings

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