Croatia – team
The home guys edged Bosnia and Herzegovina in straight sets (25-12, 25-19, and 25-16) thereby making sure they will finish at least second in Pool A and so seizing a spot for the second qualification round scheduled for October 2-6. On Sunday they will cross their ways with the Netherlands who on Saturday cruised past Azerbaijan in three straight sets (25-18, 25-17, and 25-14) to keep an immaculate record after two rounds of action.
Some 400 spectators got together on Saturday afternoon to support the home side that responded well by dominating the scene in the first set (25-12). Bosnia and Herzegovina was able to stand the quality and pace of the local heroes in the second set with the score evened at 19 all before good serving by setter Tsimafei Zhukouski and the attacks killed by Darko Nojic contributed the next six points for Croatia (25-19). The guys mentored by Igor Simuncic dictated the pace of the game all the way through in the third set (25-16) thereby pocketing their second victory in the competition.
In the other match of the day Azerbaijan could not do much to stop the run of the Netherlands who needed less than one hour of play to finish it off in straight sets. The Dutch players had learned their lesson from their previous match with Bosnia and Herzegovina – where they almost dropped the second set after relaxing a little too early – and played with great confidence from the start up to the end for a well-deserved victory in three sets to stay atop of the charts in Zagreb.
To read more news from this competition click on World Championship – European Qualification M.
