Serbia
Best scorers of the match were Natasa Cikiriz (13 kills) and captain Bianka Busa (11) for Serbia and Safiatou Zongo (9) for France. France showed great fighting spirit, but missed some precision to involve the Serbian squad in trouble. “Les bleus” managed to keep the game balanced mainly in the beginning of the first and second period, but experienced more difficulties towards the end of the sets. Or to put it another way, Serbia always kept some reserves to augment speed and power in the deciding moments of the match. Cikiriz hammered the Mikasa down to offer Serbia seven set points at 24-17 in the second set, and a French mistake ended the set in Serbia’s favour. The story of the match didn’t change in the third and last set as Serbia already led by six points at the second technical timeout. France bounced back to 20-23, before Busa at the net and Cikiriz with a service winner closed the match out 3:0 for Serbia.
Serbia coach Ratko Pavlicevic: “We have to stay focused for the next matches. We played well today, but need to improve our level, especially in passing and defence. France showed great skills in defence.”
Serbia captain Bianka Busa: “We still need more power and fighting spirit on the court. But we are happy, congratulations to my team and to the French players.”
France head coach Jacques Beraud: “We played against a strong Serbian team tonight. I’m satisfied with our game; there was a great fighting spirit. However, we made too many mistakes, particularly in serving.”
France captain Kim Nowak: “This first match was positive for us. We experienced some really good moments, but also had some difficult periods. We need better serves for the next match.”
The classic powers Italy and Serbia, host Turkey as well as Russia, Poland and Germany are the favorites for the crown of the prestigious CEV under 19 age category competition. Two weeks before the men’s juniors will battle for medals in Denmark and Poland, Turkey is in the spot light for the prominent CEV event at Baskent Hall that hosts Pool I and Ahmet Taner Kislali Hall featuring Pool II. A total of 38 matches will be played during the tournament, running from August 18-26.
The Preliminary Phase of the 2012 CEV Junior Volleyball European Championship – Women is split into two pools of six teams with the top two from each pool advancing to the semifinals. Pool I comprises 2010 runner-up Serbia, host Turkey, Slovakia, Slovenia, Belgium and France. Pool II sees title holder Italy defending their reputations versus 2010 bronze medalist the Czech Republic, Russia, Poland, Germany as well as Bulgaria.
