USA
USA and Turkey, who finished their games in the pool yesterday with a win over Serbia, will play in the semifinal of the first VNL.
Little bit unexpected Serbia finished their campaign in VNL but now they will have enough time to prepare for the main goal this year which is World Championship in Japan.
From today’s match, we can say that both teams somehow were equal but USA had more luck in the endings of the sets. For example, Serbia dominated in block (13/9) even in attacks (44/42) while from the service line USA had one ace more (3/2). But, the difference was in errors, Serbia had 25 (whole one set) while the USA only 9.
Tijana Bošković was the top scorer of the match with 27 points while Michelle Bartsch scored 16 points for USA. They were only players on the match with double effect. Kelly Murphy, Foluke Akinradewo and Jelena Blagojević were right below them with 9 points each.
USA coach Karch Kiraly said after the match: “ We love playing against the great teams in the world. Serbia is, certainly, one of those great teams that we have a great deal of respect for, for the players, their coaches and their programme. Whether we win or lose, we learn a lot because the two teams push each other and make things difficult. This was a good learning moment, and we are very happy to advance to tomorrow’s semifinals.”
Serbian coach Zoran Terzić said: “I would like to congratulate the USA team for going to the semifinals. Today, they deserved to win, no doubt about it. Definitely, we did not play our best games yesterday and today. But if I compare yesterday’s game with today, I think we played a little bit better. However, for both games, I feel that we played with quite a low level of energy and motivation. I do not exactly know why. Maybe I can say my team is tired after five weeks, but it is the same conditions for USA and Turkey. It is not an excuse. Now, we need to rest and start to think about the World Championship in Japan.”
To see complete results, stats, and standings, visit our Volleyball Nations League 2018 / Female page.
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