Serbia – Turkey
Titleholder Turkey came up to expectations by taking their fourth consecutive medal at CEV/FIVB Youth and Junior competitions as they outclassed Serbia 25-22, 25-23, 25-15 in today’s bronze medal clash at 2013 CEV Youth Volleyball European Championship – Girls.
Turkey had 37% positive receptions while Serbia had only 22% and 19 direct mistakes.
Pelin Aroguz scored 19 points to lead the game; Sara Lozo booked 11 kills for Serbia.
After 20-all in the first set, Turkey started to take an upper hand to pull away while Serbia struggled with poor service reception. Captain Arelya Karasoy added another service winner to move the scoreboard to 23-20 for Turkey. Serbia answered with two missiles from the right side but couldn’t prevent Su Zent from blocking for a 25-22 Turkey set win.
In the second set, the Serbian girls found their rhythm back and exchanged lead with their opponents, but it was Turkey that led into second technical break 16-14. Turkey then wrapped up five out of the next seven points to enlarge the lead to 21-16. With some spectacular spikes from Aroguz, the Turkish team made a match of it after winning at 25-23.
The third set saw a recovering Serbian team in the beginning, with Sara Lozo and Bojana Milenkovic smashing home to fire the team 7-4 up and forcing Turkey off for a timeout. However, Serbia just could not continue the momentum while Rida Erlalelitepe contributed two points to lead Turkey pull within 16-14 at the second technical timeout. It then became a one-team show with Turkey booking six consecutive points and never looking back until 25-15.
Turkey head coach Catma Sahin: “We have lost a very intense match yesterday, but today we played very well. Turkish volleyball goes upwards and I would like to congratulate my players and staff for their hard work.”
Turkey captain Arelya Karasoy: “This was a very important match for us. We played very well. We are happy to win bronze and I would like to congratulate all my teammates.”
Serbia head coach Marijana Boricic: “Unfortunately we lost the match. The main problem was the lack of experience of my players but probably there is also a sort of complex my players have when they play with Turkey. We lost all three matches we played against them.”
Serbia captain Jelena Vignjevic: “I would like to congratulate the Turkish team for their victory today. We had the chance to win the first and third set but couldn’t pull through. Nevertheless, I’m happy we made it to the semis.”
To read more news from this competition click on Youth European Championship 2013 F.
