Nikola Kovačević scores against the Germans
Germany started the match with two excellent blocking kills to take an early (3-1) lead. Through the second technical time-out, the hosts maintained the gap of four points (16-12).
At (17-16) coach Kolaković had to ask for a time-out, which resulted in restoring the four-point lead at (21-17). Then Serbia started to struggle.
Germany managed to stop Atanasijević on couple occasions, and reached the tie at (22-22), and then grabbed the lead (23-22). Kaliberda’s spike sealed the first set at (25-23) for the visitors.
The second set was much more equally balanced. Serbia earned a 3-point lead at (19-16), which was enough for the home side to calmly bring this set to an end at (25-19) and tie the score to 1-1 in sets.
Germany fought back in the beginning of the third set with an early (8-4) lead. The teams battled hard for each and every ball, but at (23-22) for the hosts, excellent triple block by Serbia, followed by Atanasijević’s killing spike made it (25-22) and 2-1 in sets for the home side.
Serbia started the fourth set better, going up (8-4) before the first technical time-out. After the break, Germany pushed very hard and turned the score upside down, going up by three points at (12-9) and maintaining the steady lead all the way until the very end, forcing a tie-break.
In the tie-break, Serbia got an early two-point lead and successfully maintained the gap until Germany tied the score at (10-10). From that moment on, the crowd could see a great battle between the two teams.
Atanasijević wrapped up the match with potent spike for (15-12) and 3-2 overall.
Aleksandar Atanasijević of Serbia topped the scorers chart with 31 points, while Denys Kaliberda scored 20 for the winners.
To read more about this competition click on World League 2013 M.
