Serbia celebrates dominates against Turkey

Serbia punctuated it’s rank as one of the favorites to win the 2011 CEV European Championship for Men on Saturday as it celebrated an impressive 3:0 (25:16, 25:18, 25:20)-win in 72 minutes against Turkey.
The Bronze medal winner of the FIVB World Championships 2010 dominated the game right from the start puzzling the Turkish team with an array of different effective variations in their attack. On the other hand the Serbian defense frustrated their opponents when they erased numerous offensive efforts.
Ivan Miljkovic, who had 19 points to lead all scorers, headed a strong team effort, that never allowed any doubts who would win this game. He was supported by Nikola Kovacevic and Dragan Stankovic who chipped in 10 points each. Burutay Subasi was Turkey’s top scorer with 9 points, while Serhat Coskun added eight.
While the presence of Miljkovic was always felt, Turkey struggled to find a rhythm all the way. When the Serbian top scorer was subbed out at the end of the third set, Turkey had a brief comeback. Then Milkovic returned and finally sealed the deal for his team.
“Serbia really is a world class team. We have a lot of young players who now play their first big tournament. It wasn’t a good day for Turkish Volleyball. Tomorrow we play against Austria, which will be the decisive game to advance to the next round and we really want to win that game”, said Turkish captain Sinan Tanik.
On the other hand Nikola Kovacevic was obviously content with the effort of his team. “We had a good game right from the start. We knew that we were the favorites but still everyone gave 100 percent. Still we have to forget this game and focus on the game against Slovenia tomorrow.”
 
EuroVolley 2011, group A in Vienna
Saturday
Serbia – Turkey 3:0 (25:16, 25:18, 25:20)
duration: 72 minutes
Topscorers Serbia: Miljkovic 19, Kovacevic N. 10, Stankovic 10
Topscorers Turkey: Subasi 9, Coskun 8, Pezük 7