2015 Women's European Volleyball Championship

The 2015 Women's European Volleyball Championship was the 29th edition of the European Volleyball Championship, organised by Europe's governing volleyball body, the Confédération Européenne de Volleyball. It was hosted by Netherlands and Belgium from 26 September to 4 October 2015. The championship managers were the Dutch Olympic gold volleyball medalist Peter Blange and the former Belgian volleyball player Virginie De Carne. Russia defeated Netherlands 3–0 in the final to capture their 19th title, while Tatiana Kosheleva was elected most valuable player back to back.

Format
The tournament was played in two different stages. In the first stage, the sixteen participants were divided in four groups of four teams each. A single round-robin format was played within each group to determine the teams group position (as per criteria below). The three best teams of each group (total of 12 teams) progressed to the second stage, with group winners advancing to the quarterfinals while second and third placed advanced to the playoffs.

Pool standing criteria

 * 1) Number of matches won
 * 2) Result points (3 points for 3–0 or 3–1 win; 2 points for 3–2 win; 1 point for 2–3 loss)
 * 3) Sets ratio
 * 4) Points ratio
 * 5) Result of the last match between the tied teams

The second stage of the tournament consisted of a single-elimination, with winners advancing to the next round. A playoff was played (involving group second and third places) to determine which teams joined the group winners in the quarterfinals, followed by semifinals, 3rd place match and final.

Pools composition
The drawing of lots was held in Antwerp, Belgium on 12 November 2014. First, the hosts and the team which was chosen by the hosts were seeded at the top of each pool. Then the next 4 teams which ranked highest in the previous edition were drawn. Finally, the other teams were drawn. Numbers in brackets denote the European ranking as of 25 September 2015.

Preliminary round
All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).

Pool A

 * venue: Omnisport, Apeldoorn, Netherlands


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Pool B

 * venue: Lotto Arena, Antwerp, Belgium


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Pool C

 * venue: Topsportcentrum, Rotterdam, Netherlands


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Pool D

 * venue: Indoor-Sportcentrum, Eindhoven, Netherlands


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Championship round
All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
 * venues:
 * Lotto Arena, Antwerp, Belgium
 * Ahoy, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Playoffs

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Quarterfinals

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Semifinals

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Bronze medal match

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Final

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Individual awards

 * Most valuable player
 * 🇷🇺 Tatiana Kosheleva (RUS)


 * Best setter
 * 🇷🇸 Maja Ognjenović (SRB)


 * Best outside spikers
 * 🇷🇺 Tatiana Kosheleva (RUS)
 * Anne Buijs


 * Best middle blockers
 * 🇷🇺 Irina Zaryazhko (RUS)
 * 🇹🇷 Eda Erdem Dündar (TUR)


 * Best opposite spiker
 * Lonneke Slöetjes


 * Best libero
 * 🇷🇺 Anna Malova (RUS)


 * Fair play award
 * Hans Nieukerke