Azerbaijan-Belarus
Belarus finished second in the group to have a last chance to qualify for the European Championship in May 2013.
Having already booked their pass for the final round, the home heroines still wanted to finish their campaign with a positive result; they started out strong (8;6 10:7) before Belarus was able to draw level at 13 and even went to the front by the second technical time-out (13:16). After that Azerbaijan scored four points in a row to claim back the lead (17:14) and with their star Natalya Mammadova on fire, the home side cruised to the provisional 22:18. Still Belarus flipped the charts around once more (22:23) and after a series of turnarounds, the ladies coached by Faig Garayev could seal the final 31-29.
The second set saw Azerbaijan claim a first break (8:6) before Belarus leveled at 10; the local favorites got up 16:13 but their opponents fought back to 18 all, before the winners of the group accelerated the pace and wrapped it up at 25-20.
Azerbaijan stamped a massive 8:1 in set 3 and maintained a comfortable margin also halfway through the set (11:6, 17:10), going for the final 25-20 that sealed a splendid campaign in this European qualifier.
