Romania – Serbia
Serbia caught a relatively slow start while Romania, anchored by the spikes of Denisa Rogojinaru and the blocks killed by Ana Bianca Moldovan got up 8:5 by the first technical time-out. Serbia then responded with the terrific attacks scored by opposite Jovana Brakocevic but the home team was still up by one point as the referee whistled for the second mandatory stop. Brakocevic and Milena Rasic finally found a good way through the Romanian block but Romania moved up again (21:17) via Rogojinaru and Daiana Muresan. Still, Serbia rushed back once again with Brakocevic to flip the score around and go for the provisional 1:0 (26.24).
Daiana Muresan set the pace for the home side in set 2 (8:6) but Serbia had turned the charts by the second technical time-out with the blocks by Rasic and an inspired young outside hitter, Bianka Busa (16:14). Romania attempted to claw back by stabilizing its defense but Serbia looked really determined to finish the set as quickly as possible and did so with a great performance delivered by the MVP of last year’s European Championship, Jovana Brakocevic (25-18).
Set 3 followed a similar plot with Romania going up 8:6 but afterwards the home side struggled in all fundamentals, with Serbia gradually asserting its supremacy to end up with a 3:0 win to stretch its winning streak to a total of 12 matches.
