The Yellow Tigers opened their European Championship campaign in Baku with a hard-fought victory over Spain. Belgium produced a convincing opening set before Spain won the following two. The Tigers then responded perfectly to turn the match around and claim a 3-2 victory. The set scores were 25-15, 18-25, 23-25, 25-17 and 15-8. On Sunday, Belgium will face Portugal at 13:30 in their second pool match.


Head coach Kris Vansnick started Belgium’s opening match of EuroVolley with Britt Herbots, Tea Radovic, Lara Nagels, Pauline Martin, Nathalie Lemmens, Britt Fransen and libero Britt Rampelberg. From the opening point, it was clear that Spain would not make things easy for Belgium. Both teams defended well, but the Tigers quickly took a 3-1 lead through Martin.

Belgium were clearly the better team in the opening set. Nagels’ quick sets allowed all the Belgian attackers to score freely. The Tigers extended their advantage from 10-4 to 16-8 and then 20-12. Belgium’s organisation was excellent, and Lemmens produced a block to establish a ten-point lead at 22-12. Spain were unable to reduce the deficit, and Herbots closed out the opening set at 25-15.

The second set also began with several long rallies. Spain were not discouraged by Belgium’s excellent opening set and initially remained level. Middle blocker Varela and opposite Julia De Paula caused the Tigers plenty of problems. Spain moved 5-8 ahead, forcing Vansnick to call his first timeout of the match.

The Tigers fought back to 8-10, but De Paula quickly restored Spain’s larger advantage. Belgium continued to battle and produced some good volleyball but were unable to completely close the gap. After a lengthy challenge interruption, Herbots scored the point for 13-18. A clever tip from Nel Demeyer brought Belgium back to 16-20, but Spain earned seven set points at 17-24. Belgium saved the first before Varela blocked Spain to a 25-18 set victory.

Spain carried their momentum into the third set and quickly established a 1-4 lead. Belgium struggled to score breakpoints, allowing Spain to maintain their advantage at 6-10. With Radovic at the service line, the Tigers fought back to 9-10. Elise Van Sas had also entered the match by that stage.

Belgium levelled the score at 11-11, but a few errors allowed Spain to pull away again at 12-16. With Lemmens serving, the Tigers battled back to 17-17. A Spanish attacking error then gave Belgium their first lead of the set at 18-17.

That advantage quickly disappeared. After a net fault by Martin, Spain regained the lead at 18-20. Radovic brought Belgium back to 20-21 with a block, but with Varela serving, Spain extended their lead again to 20-23. Fransen and Herbots then produced two excellent blocks to bring the Tigers back to 22-23. De Paula earned two set points for Spain. At 23-24, Herbots hit narrowly wide, leaving Belgium trailing 1-2.

Vansnick kept faith with his starting line-up in the fourth set. This time, the Tigers quickly pulled away. At 7-3, the Spanish head coach was already forced to call a timeout. Belgium found it easier to score and maintained a comfortable advantage at 12-8.

Herbots gradually raised her level and fired an excellent back-row attack to the floor for 16-10. One point later, Radovic served an ace to make it 17-10. Belgium’s middle blockers also found their best level again, as Lemmens demonstrated with a powerful attack at 21-14. An ace from Herbots and a kill block by Radovic left Spain struggling. Belgium earned nine set points at 24-15 and converted the third: 25-17.

The Tigers carried their momentum into the decisive fifth set. Excellent defensive work and Herbots’ attacking quality immediately gave Belgium a 3-0 lead. The Spanish head coach quickly called a timeout but was unable to halt the Tigers’ charge.

Rampelberg delivered excellent passes to Nagels, who was able to put Herbots in strong attacking positions. The Tigers extended their lead to 7-4 and had completely rediscovered their own game. At 12-7, Belgium’s first victory of the tournament was within reach. The Tigers then closed out the match with composure and authority: 15-8 and 3-2.

After an excellent opening set and falling 1-2 behind, the Yellow Tigers showed great resilience. They will face Portugal on Sunday at 13:30.

Post-match reactions

Captain Britt Herbots was particularly pleased with the way the Tigers managed to turn the match around.

“Nothing unexpected really happened. We knew that Spain were a very good team. They fight for every ball, put a lot of pressure on with their serve and defend extremely well. One of the areas we need to work on is that we sometimes become frustrated too quickly. It is not easy, but we then need to try to find other solutions.”

“I am very happy that we showed who we really are in the fourth and fifth sets and rediscovered our own game. That is an important lesson for the next few matches. There are several strong teams in our pool, and no match will be easy. Maybe we needed this warning to make sure we are fully focused from the start in the upcoming matches.”

“It is not easy to fight back when you are behind against a team that gives everything for every ball and is playing very well. I am therefore very happy and very proud of our response. Hopefully, this was an important warning for the rest of the tournament.”

Played for Belgium

Herbots (25), Lemmens (9), Radovic (15), Nagels (1), Martin (23), Fransen (13) and Rampelberg.

Came on

Van Sas, Demeyer (1), Verhelst (1) and Luyten.