Serbia – Russia
Russia experienced the better start (25-22) into tonight’s match. Nevertheless, Serbia kept calm and fired back strongly in the second period (25-19). The momentum stayed on Serbia’s side in the third set. Russia, once more, lost their confidence quite rapidly. The duel became more emotional in the fourth set. Both teams battled hard to gain momentum. Still, the home team entered the second technical time-out with a three-point lead. It was sufficient as Serbia successfully maintained the distance all the way until the end. A wonderful serve by Jelena Vignjevic ended the set 25-22 and the match 3:1 in Serbia’s favor.
Serbia head coach Marijana Boricic: “The first set was very difficult for us because we couldn’t control the excellent Russian serves. Later, we managed to find solutions and predicted their moves, which was very helpful.“
Russia head coach Yury Shchuplov: “Tonight, Serbia proved that they were much more confident than we are. We are very disappointed with our overall performance so far.“
Sara Lozo, tonight’s best Serbian player: “We felt some pressure, of course. But we always knew that we could win. Our coaches guided us magnificently, and we realized all of their plans on the court.“
Victoria Zurbenko, Russian middle blocker: “I think we lost due to our mistakes. We usually play much better. We beat this Serbian team in a friendly match 4:0, and maybe we underestimated them tonight, so we paid the price.“
To read more news from this competition click on Youth European Championship 2013 F.
