USA
USA was the best team at the start with impressive spiking from Matthew Anderson and Clayton Stanley. They built on their lead thanks to fine blocking by their captain. Milos Nikic and Marko Podrascanin battled well for Serbia, but the USA were dominant as they took the first set 25-16. Anderson hit six unstoppable spikes in as many attempts in the opening set.
Serbia came back in the second set and Podrascanin continued his good form as he added to his points tally. USA kept in touch as William Priddy contributed well. The match was tight as the teams lacked consistency. Dragan Stankovic came into the match more as he helped Serbia take a two-point lead, but once again USA came back to draw level after a superb block by Priddy and his team established a lead that they managed to retain to take the second set 25-22.
The third set started evenly and a fine ace from Aleksandar Atanasijevic excited the crowd. However, USA showed their strength at the net and established a healthy lead. Priddy hit an incredible ace late on and although Serbia pushed them all the way, USA’s power was just too much to stand today.
USA will face Germany in their second preliminary round match on Tuesday, while Serbia is set to take on Tunisia on that same day.
