CEV’s #EuroVolleyU17W tournament allowed us a glimpse into the future of volleyball. In it, tomorrow’s stars battled it out, with Russia’s team coming out victorious in the end. But, more important that winning titles in this stage, is for teams to continue developing its players’ potential to the fullest. In this edition of the competition, two athletes really stood out from the crowd.
Russia’s 6’1″ 15-year Valeriia Gorbunova is already a professional player for Dynamo Kazan. She was awarded the tournament’s MVP prize after leading her team to the title with impressive performances in all the most decisive and important moments of the competition. A very confident player, she showed all her skills and potential up to the final game, in which she scored 23 points against Italy.
Gorbunova talked about her award, performance, and hopes for the future (CEV.lu):
“This is the first step in my career. I want to improve my skills and I why not always aiming for being MVP in the next tournaments as well. I have a lot of work to do and I hope to keep up the good level. It is very difficult to find the right words to describe how I feel right now. I am extremely happy. We had a lot of hard work to do and we did it. It was a tough season for us, we had some problems during the preparation process as well but we did the right things and we finished the tournament in first place. This is the best way to conclude our #EuroVolleyU17W experience. I started playing Volleyball seven years ago. And I love it. I started in my home town – Chelyabinsk but last year I continued my career in the Academy of Dinamo KAZAN and we are playing in the Junior League of the Russian Championship. It is a great opportunity that is helping me a lot to grow as a player.
Gorvunova – Courtesy of CEV
Joining Gorbunova on the tournament’s Dream Team is Bulgaria’s crown jewel: Aleksandra Georgieva, who torched the competition to the tune of 25.4 points per game (5.74 points per set). The 6’2″ 16 year old led Bulgaria to the tournament’s semifinals and was chosen as the competition’s best outside hitter for a second consecutive year. There is no doubt that she also has a great future ahead of her (CEV.lu):
“This award means a lot to me and I would like to dedicate it once again to my sister. As you can see, I always turn to her when I receive an award. But when it comes to this one especially, I could say it was an aim, a goal that I was pointing at for the whole year – taking an award from the European Championship. I am very happy that this dream of mine came true for a second time – being on the podium, among the seven best players. I hope that next year I will be able to do good things as well. In general, I am a humble person and I think that this award gives me a little bit of more confidence that I am on the right path. I am extremely happy; this is an acknowledgment of the effort I’ve put into my work during the past year.
“I think that this year the tournament was better than the one from 2017. Our team played almost all of the matches in tiebreakers. We were really tired in the end, we had some difficult games in the pool stage and I think that this had its impact on the bronze medal game. We were tired but this is no excuse for the loss. Of course, we are a bit disappointed but on the other hand, we are among the best four teams in Europe. We qualified for the 2019 FIVB World Championship and for the European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku, so we are happy about that. I have never played in such a big competition. We will train hard during the coming year in order to improve. We hope for the best result at the European Youth Olympic Festival as well.” However, the biggest dream for Aleksandra remains the same: “Gold from #EuroVolley!”
With both the FIVB Nations League and World Championship coming soon, we can’t help but wonder when we’ll get to see them in uniform for their senior teams.
Georgieva – Courtesy of CEV
Georgieva – Courtesy of CEV
Leave a Reply