Serbia – Portugal
Serbia dominated the scene with their terrific blocks and Portugal could keep the hosts’ pace only in the first set where the girls mentored by Gilda Harris even moved to the front twice at 16:10 and 18:14. However, after Serbia got back on track to claim the opening set, Portugal was literally routed scoring only 15 points more in the match. Serbia’s middle blocker Mina Popovic and young opposite Tijana Boskovic top scored in the end with 12 points apiece. Serbia out-blocked Portugal 13 vs. 4 and was absolutely dominant also from the serving line with 12 aces vs. 6 for their rivals.
“This was a good start but we had some problems at the beginning, actually quite understandably because this was the first match of the tournament” Serbia’s mentor Ratko Pavlicevic said. “The girls wanted to show their best and as a result made many mistakes. Portugal served well and this surprised us because we were not prepared for that scenario. After we fixed our problems in the final section of the first set everything went easy for us”.
“We showed that we can play good even if we are trailing in the score” team captain Bianka Busa added. “Portugal played good only in the first set and after that everything was just fine for us. I hope we will continue to display the same quality also in the next matches”.
“Serbia is a great team and we knew that even before arriving here. My team is very young and the girls still have to discover their potential. As the first set was over they just stopped playing” Gilda Harris stated. “I agree with what our coach said. We are very young and Serbia, on the other hand, has a strong team. However, we could surprise them in the first set. We still have three more games and hope we can win some” Portugal’s team captain Ana Martins concluded.
To read more news from this competition click on 2013 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U20 World Championship – European Qualification.
