August 28, 2019 - After overcoming Romania, Croatia sits in second place of the Group C standings in the European Championships and plays Hungary in the final round on Wednesday. 

The Croatia women’s volleyball team celebrated 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-18, 25-22) in Budapest in the fourth round of Group C of the European Championships against Romania. Now, they are just one step away from placing into the round of 16, reports HRT.

Croatia opened the match well, led 15-9 in the first set, and successfully held the lead until the end of the set. But in the second set, Romania quickly reached an advantage of 13-6, and the Croatian players seemed to have no counter-game. Still, Croatia managed to come back and tied at 23-23, though Romania took the last two points in the set, and after 51 minutes of play, the result was equal at 1-1.

Romania was better at the start of the third set, leading 6-2, though it was followed by a turnaround. The Croatian players scored seven points in a row, and when they went five points ahead (16-11), they finished the set in their favor. Croatia continued in the fourth set with good play, was up by a six-point advantage several times, and in the exciting finish, a stellar block eventually led them to celebrate 3-1 in sets.

Lucija Mlinar was the best for the Croatian side with 22 points, followed by Martina Samadan who scored 16 and Sanja Popović-Gamma who scored 14 points.

On Wednesday, Croatia plays Hungary in the last round of Group C (6 pm).

The European Championships, which is held from 23 August to 8 September, is attended by 24 teams divided into four groups. The top four teams from each group will advance to the round of 16.

Standings for Group C

1. Netherlands 4 4 0 12-0 12 
2. CROATIA 4 2 2 8-8 7 
3. Romania 4 2 2 7-8 6 
4. Azerbaijan 3 2 1 6-5 5 
5. Hungary 3 1 2 4-6 3 
6. Estonia 4 0 4 2-12 0

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