Sweden open European Championship with win over Montenegro in Gothenburg

[p]A crowd of 5,261 were in attendance at the Scandinavium to roar [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/sweden/nuDXN7Ba/"]Sweden[/a] on to victory, beating the previous attendance for a women's volleyball match by over 1,000 spectators.[/p][p]The Group D matches are taking place in Gothenburg as Sweden hosts the event for the first time, alongside [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/turkey/QZT8lL7S/"]Turkey[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/czech-republic/8dhw5vxS/"]Czech Republic[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/azerbaijan/vTWd6th9/"]Azerbaijan[/a]. Victory in their opener has taken them a long way to finish in the top four and qualify for the Round of 16.[/p][p][b]From 11-10 in the first set, Sweden began to take control, winning 10 of the next 11 points[/b] before clinching the opener, 25-13. The second set followed a similar pattern, as [b]11-11 turned into 16-11[/b], as the host nation then kept [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/montenegro/Ac2uNzzE/"]Montenegro[/a] at arm's length to take it, 25-18.[/p][p]Under pressure in the third set, the European Championship debutants showed their mettle by taking 3-0 and 5-1 leads and doing well to maintain an advantage, [b]until a run of three points without reply saw Sweden level at 18-18[/b], before taking their first lead at 22-21 and holding on for a 25-23 win, to take the match [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/volleyball/montenegro-Ac2uNzzE/sweden-nuDXN7Ba/?mid=23HmDKlR"]3-0[/a].[/p][embed guid="e1049b5e-0270-4685-bec9-b416be3bbb49" url="https://x.com/CEVolleyball/status/2090886163930231288" social-type="twitter" /][p]Despite the win with a clean record, Anna Haak believes there is more to come from Sweden:[b] "I don't really think we're reaching our highest level. There's more to come. We still won the match 3-0 and we can still play a lot better,"[/b] adding how she felt to play in front of such a home audience: [b]"It was great fun to play in front of this crowd and to get a feel for it."[/b][/p][p]Sweden have the chance to show their highest level when they face [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/slovakia/bLaP0AUJ/"]Slovakia[/a] on Saturday 22nd, their second of five Group Stage matches.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/volleyball/europe/european-championships-women/"]Follow the 2026 European Women's Volleyball Championships on Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]