Celebration of Serbian girls
Brankica Mihajlovic and Jovana Brankocevic registered 22 and 16 points, respectively, to lead a Serbian side that dominated their opponents in every category. For the Dominicans, Gina Mambru had nine points and Prisilla Rivera eight.
Serbia had a 43-27 advantage in spikes and 10-5 in the blocking department. They also held a slight margin of 4-3 in serving aces.
The reception of the Dominican side was subpar and their setters were unable to combine well with their offensive players.
On Saturday, Serbia will meet the Czech Republic, winners over Puerto Rico earlier on Friday. The two losing teams and NORCECA rivals will cap the action.
Mihajlovic and Brakocevic each contributed two points as Serbia took an 8-7 lead in the first set. Rivera and Mambru also had two apiece for the Dominican side in the early going. With Brakocevic serving, Serbia scored three in a row, including a block by Molnar against Rivera, to increase the lead to 11-7. Another big serve by Brakocevic allowed Molnar to land a spike and then Krsmanovic blocked Mambru. Serbia led 16-9 at the second technical time-out. The Serbians continued their march with an ace and block by Krsmanovic and Brakocevic. Rasic scored off the block for set point at 24-12. Serbia won 25-13 when Jeoselyna Rodriguez served long.
In the second set, Mihajlovic again put Serbia on the right path – they led by four at the first technical timeout – with her solid attacks combined with reception difficulties by Serbia’s opponents. The home side reacted with the joint offense of Rivera, Fersola and Mambru to tie the score at 9-9 after an ace by Echenique. Mambru’s spike gave the Dominicans a 10-9 lead. The combo of Mihajlovic and Brakocevic put Serbia back in front and Zoran Terzic’s team was ahead 16-13 after a service bomb by Mihajlovic. Vargas blocked Brakocevic to close the gap to 16-15 and a mishandling by Molnar tied the scores at 16. At 19-all, Mambru missed with her touch, Krsmanovic hit a bomb and Echenique faulted while setting, to give Serbia a three-point lead. The second set finished 25-20.
Dominican errors opened the door to Serbia in the third set as they took an 8-3 lead capped by a thundering spike by Brakocevic. Serbia moved to a 13-8 lead when Rasic blocked Rivera after two spikes by Krsmanovic and Mihajlovic. The European side was in front 16-10 at the second technical pause as Mihajlovic continued with her scoring exploits. The Serbians continued all the way to conclude the match with a comfortable 3-0 win after taking the third set 25-16 when Rasic blocked Rivera and Ognjenovic scored while setting.
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