CEV Junior European Volleyball Championship 2010: Semi-finals qualification match, Serbia beat Spain by 3-2
The CEV Junior European Volleyball Championship 2010 entered the important phase of semi-final qualifiers on Wednesday.
The day’s first match saw Serbia and Spain in a hard-hitting competition. Both the contenders seemed fully prepared for the combat and they had taken all necessary measures to dominate the other side. But luck stood-by the Serbian crew and they successfully secured the first spot in semi-final match from Pool II. The tiring battle of five-sets was staged in Belarus’ City, Mogilev, where Serbia cruised past Spain and posted a 3-2 (25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 23-25, 15-10) victory. The Spanish team helped them extend their winning streak to 5-0 with this win.
The hard-work of Serbian team has brought them good results since the very start of this tournament. They went through some very tough and demanding matches during the first three days but were still able to subdue all the competitors with their brilliant volleyball skills. The Serbians defeated France, Bulgaria and host Belarus. The semi-final qualifier was an important match in which they repeated the same act and sidelined their rivals, Spain.
The first set started with attacking shots from Serbia. Uros Kovacevic produced three mighty spikes in the early moments and scored points. The Serbian team dominated Spaniards with a 9-3 lead at the end of first technical timeout (TTO) while Serbian defense specialists made good use of the block and hit the ball from court middle area. The setter floated the ball in air and created perfect opportunities for spikers to raise the Serbian score. Meanwhile, the Spanish team failed to penetrate the powerful spikes of Serbia and gave in at 25-18.
Nonetheless, Spain hit back in the second set and returned with a heavy strike of shots. They continued on hitting the ball with firm hands and built a lead of four points (15-11). In the meantime, Serbia made a slight change in their player positions and replaced Kovacevic with Pekovic. This strategy worked for them and the new comer helped chase the score. Promptly, Serbia earned four points to attain a balance in the points’ run. The game was tied at 15-15. Finally, success graced the Serbian team in the last moments as they got a kill at 25-23 to finish the second set.
Serbia captured a strong spot by winning the first sets but next two sets totally belonged to Spain’s volleyball aces. The Serbs couldn’t answer the hard hits from Spaniards during the third set while their top player, Aleksandar Atanasijevic added even more fuel to injury when he made an exit from the game. Aleksandar, after suffering from back problems, was replaced by Mrdak. Spain took full advantage of the situation and claimed some valuable points. Serbia tried to resist but they lost the set at 23-25.
The chaos continued for Serbia in the fourth set also as Mrdak turned out to be the wrong substitute for Aleksandar. He didn’t play well and couldn’t bring any improvements, while on the other side of the net, Spanish team remained very active. Francisco Ruiz of Spain scored one ace and then worked out a block to increase his side’s score. The score reached 22-19 and placed the Serbian team in a more risky situation. Serbs leveled the game at 22-22 but still failed to stop their defeat in the 4th set. Spain posted 25-23 win over Serbia.
Despite this, Serbia made a come-back during the fifth set. In the tiebreaker, Serbs avoided previous mistakes and played sensibly. They created a lead and pulled off victory by Uros’ final shot. The fifth set ended at 15-10 with Serbian victory and they booked their ticket in the semi-final match of CEV Junior European Championship 2010.
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