Serbia-vs-Italy
Although both Serbia and Italy have qualified for the semi-finals of the Final Six earlier, their encounter in the last round of pool stage was much more than only being a matter of prestige. Both sides aimed for the first place in the pool but went on the court to achieve this goal by playing with a combined lineup almost throughout the entire match. Serbia, the 2016 Olympic Games silver medalists, prevailed by a 3-1 (25-18, 25-19, 16-25, 27-25).
The game was close to going to the tie-break as Italian National Team had 22-18, but Serbia made 6-0 run to take a two-point lead, which they converted into triumph only after a series of video challenges and two match balls. It is worth to mention that, today, the „Azzurre“ head coach Davide Mazzanti gave a full rest to his best player in the tournament so far, Paola Egonu.
Tijana Bošković topped Serbia with 16 points while Indre Sorokaite scored 22 for Italy.
Both teams will find out their rivals in the semi-finals at the end of the last round match in Pool J between China and The Netherlands. The Chinese National Team secured their berth in the semis, yesterday, and the only question is will they finish first or the second in the group. As for the Dutch ladies, they need any kind of win to advance to the semi-finals. A 3-0 or 3-1 victory would guarantee them a top spot in the pool, while a 3-2 win would mean they will go to the semis as the second placed team. At the same time, any kind of win of The Netherlands will eliminate Brazil from the tournament.
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