Serbia – team
2008 runner-up Serbia enjoyed a trouble-free evening in their duel versus Slovenia. Both teams had won their opening match at 2012 CEV Junior Volleyball European Championship – Women, but only Serbia managed to copy their win from the day before. After 73 minutes, Serbia easily won in straight sets (25-18, 25-14, 25-21). From 9-11 to 17-11, Serbia scored eight consecutive points to turn the tables in the first set. It was not the perfect Serbian game, but enough to overcome the irregular Slovenian play at the start of the sixth match of Pool I. The Serbian staff made its homework with a clever defensive concept versus Slovenian opposite Iza Mlakar who was the outstanding force for Slovenia the day before. As a consequence, Serbia dominated the match quite effortlessly. After a solid 25-18 first set win, the young Serbian players jumped out for a 12-2 lead in the second period. Natasa Cikiriz scored eight points in the first and added six in the second set to make it 25-14 for Serbia. Additionally, the talented Serbian blockers booked eleven (!) block kills in the first two sets. The Slovenian hopes vanished quickly into thin air in the third set as the favourites never looked back. At the second technical timeout, the scoreboard already showed a four-point gap for the team of head coach Ratko Pavlicevic. Serbia pulled through (25-21), booking their second straight-set win here in Ankara.
Serbia head coach Ratko Pavlicevic: “We played quite well in the first two sets. We made a good scouting which helped us to score a lot of block points. But we still need to improve our general level.”
Serbia captain Bianka Busa: “It wasn’t easy tonight, even if it looked like. We experienced some problems in passing.”
Slovenia head coach Bruno Najdic: “Serbia is an outstanding team. My players showed too much respect, principally at the net. To have a chance against Serbia, we needed a top serving performance.”
