The United States and Türkiye overcame the semifinals on Thursday are the two national teams that will fight for the title of the 2023 FIVB Girls’ U19 Volleyball World Championship in Osijek, Croatia.

Americansand Turkish will play for the title of the tournament on Friday, at 21:00 local time (19:00 UTC), at the Osijek Sports Hall, while Italy and Japan will meet three hours earlier in the bronze medal match.

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

The United States have been strong contenders in the U18 age group, having won medals in four of the last five editions of the World Championship before the change to U19, last year - they took gold in 2019, silver in 2013 and 2015 and bronze in 2021. In the semifinals, the Americans were in excellent form against Italy, topping the Europeans 3-1 (25-18, 25-22, 20-25, 25-15).

Outside hitter Abigail Vander Wal was once again the main American scorer, with 21 points. Against the Italians, she got great help from middle blockers Ayden Ames and Favor Anyanwu, who got 13 points each. Despite the defeat, Italian opposite Merit Adigwe led all scorers with 27 points.

“I feel great, it was a thrilling win for us today,” Anyanwu commented. “Entering the competition as underdogs, it is great to make it to the final. Tomorrow, we will just go out there on the court and play our game. We know what we have to do and we know we can play USA volleyball. We have very good team chemistry, we’re not going into games allowing stress to play a role. We are going to have fun, go with the flow, and enjoy the match.”

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

In the first semifinal, Türkiye secured a pretty convincing win over Japan to return to the gold medal match in the category for the first time since 2011, when they won the title – at the time, the girls played in the U18 age group. On Thursday, the Europeans dominated the Japanese, walking away with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-19) victory.

Outside hitter Liza Safronova was the main Turkish scorer in the match, leaving the court with 12 points – outside hitter Eylul Durgun, opposite Beren Yesilirmak and middle blocker Begum Kacmaz tallied nine each. Japanese opposite Miku Akimoto was the match’s top scorer, with 18 points.

“We have been waiting so many years for this moment,” setter Dilay Ozdemir, who scored seven points, reflected. “We are so glad that we achieved it, we are so happy. We were trying to stay calm during the whole match and this worked out very well for us. Now, we are thinking about the final and the goal is to win gold.”

The playoffs to determine positions from 5^th to 24^th also continued on Friday in Osijek and Szeged, Hungary. In the playoffs from 5^th-8^th, Thailand overcame Bulgaria 3-1 (25-16, 25-19, 16-25, 25-18) and Croatia topped Brazil 3-2 (25-17, 18-25, 22-25, 25-19, 15-11).

Among the teams competing from 9^th to 12^th place, Argentina defeated Poland 3-2 (19-25, 25-23, 25-21, 21-25, 15-8) and China secured a 3-1 (18-25, 25-17, 25-21, 26-24) win over Asian rivals Korea. The playoffs from 13^th to 16^th had a pair of victories from NORCECA teams as the Dominican Republic beat Egypt 3-2 (21-25, 25-17, 25-20, 13-25, 15-13) and Puerto Rico triumphed 3-1 (27-25, 25-23, 17-25, 25-23) over Hungary.

The positions from 17^th to 24^th were all determined on Thursday as Serbia overcame Mexico 3-0 (28-26, 25-17, 25-23) to finish 17^th, Canada topped Peru 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-21) to rank 19^th, Germany overcame Cameroon 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-17) to get 21^st place and Chile got a forfeit win over Nigeria to rank 23^rd.

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