Day 4, Thursday the 19th of October
(See all exact results, pictures etc. at https://www.facebook.com/nevzau17)
Girls:
NOR-ENG, 5-6 place (3-1): Norway secured the 5th place in the tournament in the first ranking match of the day. England fought well and won the second set, but the whole match had the Norwegian girls as winners.
ISL-FIN, 3-4 place (3-0): Finland girls took one more medal at the NEVZA Championships, by winning the bronze medal match against Iceland. Iceland performed well and can be proud of the 4th place.
FAR-GRL, 7-8 place (3-0): Faroe Island took the 7th place by winning the last match against Greenland. Greenland had its first appearance at a NEVZA Championships and was nice to welcome them in the NEVZA family.
DEN-SWE, 1-2 place (3-0): The Danish girls was determined and well prepared from the first ball and secured the 2017 Nevza under 17-championship in straight sets. The Swedish girls fought hard and used the entire squad to try to get momentum back, but the Danish serve and pass-game kept a high quality throughout the match, taking away the strong Swedish attacker when it became close on the score board.
Boys:
NOR-FAR, 5-7 place (1-3): In a very tight 4 set match, The Faroe Islands overcome the Norwegian boys. The teams gave each other a brave fight and only small differences decided the outcome.
FIN-ENG, 3-4 place (3-1): The young team from Finland secured the nation’s second bronze medal of the day with 3 sets to 1 against the England boys who came off to a good start, winning the first set. After that the Finnish boys got better hold of their own game and managed to edge out England in the following three sets. England boys finish in 4th place, just outside the medals.
ISL-FAR, 5-7 place (0-3): The boys’ team from the Faroe Islands were in the favorite’s shirt before the match, having played a very fine tournament so far. Iceland’s boys did everything in their power to stay in the match, but this year the smaller Atlantic island neighbors was the stronger team. Iceland finish the tournament in 7th place, behind Norway in 6th spot. The Faroe Islands was very close to earning a place in the semi finals, but had to settle for 5th place this year. It will be interesting to follow the talented players from all the NEVZA countries in the future.
DEN-SWE, 1-2 place (2-3): Inspired by the victory of the Danish girls, the boys’ team came off to a flying start, winning the first set 25-17. Throughout the tournament the Sweden boys had showed high quality and in the final’s second set they showed great strength, but only pulled off a two point victory taking the set 25-23. With the Danish boys a little shaken and their neighbors with great confidence, the third set had the blue and yellow boys leading all the way, finishing with a 25-17 set win. Trailing a set, the home team digged deep and turned up the service pressure to the max. An early 6 point lead grew smaller as the set came to an end, but solid blocking and an inspiring finish gave the Danish boys the fourth set 25-21. Fifth set was a nail biting thriller with Sweden leading most of the time. Up 14-11 is looked to end here, but the Danes pulled within one point before Sweden could finish the set 15-13 and claim the NEVZA 20017 under 17 boys title. The Danish boys will surely feel disappointed for a short while, but finishing second will count as a very good outcome of a tournament with many strong teams and skilled youth players from all the NEVZA countries.
