Serbia-Croatia
Serbia swept neighboring Croatia in straight sets (25-21, 25-16, and 25-12) in front of 800 spectators. Croatia’s Leo Andrić topped the scorers’ chart with 11 points while Serbia’s captain Uroš Kovačević scored 11 for the winners. Many esteemed guests followed the match from the stands, among others Mr. Aleksandar Boričić, President of the Volleyball Federation of Serbia, Mr. Nenad Golijanin, First Vice-President of the Volleyball Federation of Serbia, Mr. Žarko Blanuša, member of the Executive Board in the Volleyball club Partizan Termoelektro BEOGRAD, and Mr. Golub Labudović, General Director of hotel “Park” in Ivanjica.
The teams were evenly matched until 3:3 in the first set when Serbia broke the tie and went up 6:4. However, Croatia quickly equalized at 6:6, but Serbia managed to regain a couple of points before the first technical break (8:6). The Croats once again tied at 10, but then the hosts definitely took over the control of the match winning 5 points in a row for the provisional 15:10. Until the end of the set, Croatia managed to narrow the gap and reach the tie at 20:20, but that was it. They could not complete the turnaround, as Serbia went ahead 1:0 in sets after securing a comfortable 25-21.
The beginning of the second set was similar to the first one, but this time Serbia went to the first technical break having a somewhat bigger advantage (8:5). After that there was only one team on the court, as the home side stormed to a 25-16 to double the overall lead. In the beginning of the third set Serbia created a 3-point gap and successfully maintained it through the mid-stage (10:7) before flying off to a 16:7 lead at the second technical time-out. By the end of the set, Serbia further extended the advantage and the match was concluded at 25-12 in favor of the yet unbeaten Serbs.
Siniša Reljić, head coach of Serbia, said: “We expected a stronger resistance in this match, but we played an excellent game and my players got everything right. I have to thank this wonderful audience, and I hope we will celebrate with them tomorrow”.
Uroš Kovačević, captain of Serbia: “I am glad that so many people came to watch us. We gave our best in this match and the final result is fair. Tomorrow we play the final of the World Championship, and I am not exaggerating, because in this moment Serbia and Spain are certainly the best junior teams on the globe”.
Milorad Krunić, head coach of Croatia: “This was our worst match in the tournament. On the other hand, Serbia played their best game. They bombarded us with power serves and we failed to respond. I expect a victory tomorrow, but no matter what happens the Volleyball sport has won and we leave Ivanjica satisfied”.
Marko Sedlaček, receiver of Croatia: “We came here with many youngsters in the team. We showed that we have potential, and with the right kind of assistance there is a future for this team, for sure”.
To read more news from this competition click on 2013 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship – European Qualification.
Find the full stats from this game on Statistics.
