After an exceptional domestic season, in which all three of our girls’ teams qualified for the later stages, the Volleyball Forever colours are crossing the border. From 3 to 6 April, our cadets team will represent Romania at one of the most prestigious youth volleyball tournaments in Europe: the Cornacchia World Cup.
We leave for Italy with morale lifted by the dramatic win over Academia Pârv and the flawless run of our U15 team. Here are the girls who will fight under the Italian sun:
🏐 The heart at the net: Alya, Gloria and Zoe, the outside hitters who refuse to lose
If volleyball were a battle, the outside hitters would be the front line of attack. Next week we leave for Pordenone aiming to get through the group and go as far as possible, relying on several strengths. One of them is that we have three special players, our outside hitters, who have shown that beyond technique, top performance is written with sacrifice and early courage. We know Alya, Gloria and Zoe fight to the end. When they can’t go on, they will be helped by Anastasia, Dania, Ilinca and Mara. The order is strictly alphabetical!
Alya: the “youngest” with the soul of a giant 🏐🌟
Alya, one of the youngest in our team, will show once again why age is just a number in performance sport. Although she is among the youngest members of the team, her maturity in the game and her composure in tense moments have made her one of our best players.
In the group matches Alya showed us not only that she could handle the pressure, but that she shone exactly when the team most needed clarity. She is our “secret weapon” who is no longer a secret at all, but a certainty of tomorrow’s volleyball. Watching Alya attack with such ease is the pure joy of this sport! 😊🙌
Gloria: the outside hitter who knows no fear 🏐✨
Beyond the numbers on the scoreboard, Gloria’s impact is felt in the energy she passes on to the group in the difficult moments of the game. She isn’t just a precise finisher, but also a fighter who refuses to let any ball go, inspiring her teammates with her determination.
This sporting maturity, combined with exceptional tactical vision, makes her a key piece in our team’s machinery for the tournament in Italy. Gloria represents the perfect balance between power and self-control, a true ambassador of Volleyball Forever values on the international stage.✨
Zoe: sacrifice for the team and a character of steel 🏐💪
Those in the stands know her attacks and decisive serves, but few know what was hidden behind every jump. Zoe played, for example, in the last, decisive match against Academia Pârv wearing not only her jersey but also a big heart, which allowed her to play with an injury that would have kept anyone else on the bench.
Playing injured, feeling the pain on every landing and still asking for the ball when the score was 0-2 – that’s what being a true leader means. Zoe didn’t just play with her arm, she played with her heart. We are sure that in Italy too every point she wins will be a defiance of the impossible and a lesson in devotion for all her teammates. But perhaps her greatest asset is her natural feel for passing and defence. So she has all the qualities to become a great player ✨
Adela and Maya: the impassable wall at the net 🧱
If on the wings we have fire and speed, in the middle of the net we have an impassable barrier. The qualification earned in the last match in Turda was sealed by the defensive and offensive performances of our two middle blockers, Adela and Maya, who turned the middle zone into forbidden territory for the opponents – helped, when needed, by Giulia.
Adela: precision and constant energy 🏐🔥
Adela fits perfectly into this powerful duo. With impressive reaction speed, she is always where things are “hottest”, closing attacking lanes and scoring with quick attacks that surprise the opposing defence. The energy she pours out on court is contagious, and her fighting spirit is essential to keep the team’s pace high until the last point. Not to mention her serves at the end of the last tournament, which were accurate and powerful.
Maya: intuition and intelligence 🏐✨
Maya isn’t just the team captain, she is also a teammate in the truest sense of the word. With a natural reading of the game, she anticipates the opponents’ attacks, putting up blocks that stop our rivals’ momentum exactly at the important moments. She scores when she gets the ball – in the last match of the tournament she closed out the last 2 sets, when the tension was at its peak. Her presence in the middle gives the team the security you need when you want to build a win. Maya doesn’t just block balls, she blocks the opponents’ hopes!
Adelina, Noa and Oana: the clear minds behind the victory 🧠
If volleyball is chess played at the speed of light, then Adelina and Noa are the grandmasters of any tournament, and Oana their defender. The setter’s role is the most thankless and at the same time the most spectacular: they are the ones who turn a difficult reception into a perfect set, the “ammunition” the rest of the girls use to break the opposing block. That, of course, after our libero has received the serve.
Adelina: precision and leadership under pressure 🏐✨
Adelina handles the hottest moments with incredible maturity. Whatever the score, she is the one who keeps calm, distributing the ball with surgical precision. She knows exactly when to use the middle blockers to break the block and when to trust the outside hitters for the finishing blows. She blocks or defends when needed. Her quiet but firm leadership can be the team’s compass in moments when it loses its way.
Noa: creativity and game-changing energy 🏐🔥
Noa has that something that creates welcome energy, bringing elements of unpredictability that completely destabilise the opposing defence. Remember a few of the placed balls with which she closed sets in the group tournaments. With a natural sense of the game, Noa found solutions where others saw only a wall of arms. Her creative spirit and the way she “feels” the team’s pulse are essential to keep the rhythm of our spectacular matches. Not to mention her serves, which almost always cause panic. 😊🙌
Oana: the libero with strategic anticipation 🏐🛡️
If the match is a show, Oana is the defence’s director behind the scenes. In a role that demands total sacrifice, Oana dives for every ball, turning opposing attacks that look like sure points into chances for us. Her reflexes and the way she organises the defence give confidence to the whole team. When you have Oana behind you, you know “nothing gets through”, and this security has allowed us to take risks and win! Oana, you’ll have to do the same in Italy 😊🙌
A tournament as important as Pordenone can’t be approached without the contribution of every girl in the squad. Volleyball is a team sport in the purest sense of the word, and our “bench” is now an engine of energy and a vital source of talent.
Giulia, Ilinca, Anastasia, Dania, Mara and Sophia are the girls who show that we are a team in the true sense of the word. Always ready to fight, whether they come on to strengthen the serve, secure the defence or bring that extra enthusiasm at a critical moment, their presence on court is essential. ✨
Anastasia and Giulia have shown they can come on with remarkable courage, proving that we have solid solutions at any moment of the game. They have shown they are a viable option whenever the coach’s strategy and the needs of the game call for them. We are sure that in Italy too they will show the same strength and passion.
Dania and Ilinca can bring balance and freshness exactly when fatigue starts to set in. Dania closed out the U15 final match, and Ilinca always brings energy to the attack, showing they can be solutions for the team at any moment. In Pordenone they will show us they can be decisive whenever they are called upon.
Mara and Sophia complete the team’s machinery with determination and precision, always ready to fight for every ball. They grow from match to match, and the leap in quality is visible. Mara has shown us intuition and precision, and Sophia amazes us, among other things, with her very accurate and dangerous serves.
Each of our girls has understood that the group’s success comes above all else, and their joy at the end of matches is the most beautiful proof of our unity. In a fiery month, with the tournament in Italy 🇮🇹 and intense semi-finals, this strong and cohesive squad is our greatest asset! 😊🙌
If today we are talking about a historic qualification and a huge leap in quality, about taking part in the most famous youth tournament in the world, we have to start with the man who drew this road. The remarkable achievement of having three teams qualified for the semi-final tournaments is no accident – it bears the unmistakable mark of our COACH.
With rare ambition and deep knowledge of the game, he managed to instil a winning mentality in the girls, showing that experience gained at the highest level is the compass leading us to the elite. Under his guidance the team grew not only technically but also in spirit. He was the one who knew how to manage crisis moments, to turn the points lost against Mosavo or Ciortea into hard but necessary lessons, and to keep balance when the tension of the match against Pârv seemed to overwhelm us.
This success is, first of all, the victory of a long-term vision that put discipline and passion at the heart of every practice.
Parents: the seventh player and the tireless soul of the team 👏🥁❤️
We can’t start this new chapter of success without bowing to those who are truly the foundation of this club: the parents. You have been and will be the soul of our supporters, the ones who turned every stand into a “fortress” of encouragement and who supported these wonderful children every second, from the effort of training to the tension of the last points.
These results belong to you just as much. Thank you for your trust, for your sacrifices and for being models of unconditional support. Together we are more than a club; we are a family united under the same colours! 🔴🟡🔵🏐🇷🇴
The conclusion of this stage: we have learned to turn defeats into joy. We have learned that 0-2 is just the beginning of a story about ambition. We leave for Italy 🇮🇹 and for the Semi-final Tournaments with one certainty: we are a force, we are a family and, most importantly, we have learned to win together!
We are proud of you, girls! The story continues! 🔴🟡🔵🏐😊🇷🇴
