FIVB Championships recap: Serbia knocks out Korea, Russia stays undefeated
The second round of the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Women's Volleyball World Championship was completed on Wednesday. Of the 16 teams that earned spots in the second round, 12 will move
on to the semi-finals while four were eliminated.
Serbia vs Korea Pool E
Serbia and Korea were playing for the third or fourth position, and a chance to play in the 5-8 position bracket of the semi-finals. Serbia won the match 3-0 (25-17 25-22 25-16), and took third in Pool
E while Korea dropped all the way to seventh place, and were eliminated from the tournament.
Jovana Brakocevic led Serbia with 15 points and Hyo-Jin Yang led Korea with 13.
Serbia didn’t let Korea into the first set, leading the match early, and going on to win 25-17. Korea bounced back to take an 8-5 lead in the second set, but Serbia clawed their way back and took a 23-20
lead before taking the set 25-22. Korea also led early in the third set, but couldn’t fend off Serbia who led 23-14 before winning the final set 25-16.
“Today’s victory had two meanings. We grew up as a team compared to last year,” said Serbia’s captain, Jelena Nikolic. “This time we didn’t bring any bad faces. Since we lost to Russia yesterday, it was
difficult to find power to come back today. But as a professional, we showed our best in Volleyball regardless of any ranking. We will try to do our best in the next match.”
Japan vs Russia Pool E
Russia improved to 7-0 in the second round while the host team, Japan, dropped to 5-2 after a 3-1 (25-21, 25-14, 23-25, 25-13) win. Russia ended the round in first place, and Japan finished in second.
Both teams will advance to the semi-finals with a chance to win the FIVB championship.
Ekaterina Gamova led Russia with 26 points while Kimura Saori led Japan with 25.
Korea managed keep the first set close against the defending champions, losing 25-21, but couldn’t handle Russia’s tall trio of Gamova, Yulia Merkulova and Nataliya Goncharova in the second set. The three
spiked their way to an early 8-4 lead in the second set before taking it 25-14.
Korea won a close third set, but in the fourth, Russia was back in control with a 25-13 win.
“I'm very satisfied with today's victory, but a bit disappointed about the third set,” said Gamova. “We could have done more in the third set. We did our best taking their receptions, but attack was our
key.”
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