Argentina vs. Serbia match report – 2011 FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Cup – 1st round
The Argentinean men’s national volleyball team beat Serbia at the FIVB World Cup Opener on Sunday, November 20. The Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan recorded all the action, where Argentina posted 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-18) on board and marked its first
win of the tournament.
Federico Pereyra and Facundo Conte received huge applause from the audience for their brilliant skills. They added 15 and 14 points, respectively, in the comprehensive victory. Likewise, Pablo Crer did a great job at defence and contributed five blocks.
Ivan Miljkovic was the only Serbian player, who chipped in double-digit points. He added 11 points via nine attacks, one block and one service ace. Argentina’s Conte settled for the title of most impressive player of the match.
Serbia broke the ice and scored first point of the match via Miljkovic. In response, Argentina put away consecutive points and left Serbia behind at 5-1. Serbs had to call a timeout, in order to form a better strategy to stop Argentina. However, team in
‘sky blue and white’ outfits continued with success and rallied past to 8-4. In the next run, Argentina took the next jump to make it 14-10. Serbia tried different ways to break the rhythm of Argentinean players but trailed behind. Conte and Mariano Giustiniano
showed no mercy and hit unstoppable spikes. Argentina secured the opening set with final score of 25-20.
Serbia played under pressure in the second set and their performance was further deterred by the opponent. Argentina, on the other hand, enjoyed a great rhythm and continued strong play. Pereyra and Conte put up nice effort and helped Argentina stay ahead
in the score. By the time Serbia scored 13 points, Argentina hit the mark with set points and captured second set, 25-13.
Argentina opened third set with 5-3 lead, while Serbia put up a spirited effort to catch up with the opponent. Serbs came really close to Argentina at the first TTO but still lagged behind. Argentina continued the hard-hitting and did not stop until 25-18
victory in third set. Serbia suffered the loss of opening match at 2011 FIVB World Cup.
Argentinean Coach Javier Weber expressed his emotions in the following manner: "We are very happy. We played a perfect game today. We did well on attack and defence. We know they didn't play well today. This will be a difficult championship with many games,
but this is a good start. On contrary, Serbian Coach Igor Kolakovic was most essentially disappointed with the results. He hoped a better start for his team but it proved to be a mere fallacy to win against Argentina.
Meanwhile, the captain of winning team Rodrigo Quiroga said: "I'm so happy for the victory. The first match is always tough in this type of event. We put pressure on them with our serve. They have two of the best middle blockers in the world. We are trying
to grow day-by-day in the competition". Serbain captain Ivan Miljkovic accepted that his team did not perform up to the mark. It was only Argentina present on the centre court.
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