Russia defeat Serbia in 2010 CEV Junior European Championship semi-final
Russia has been in the news since the start of CEV Junior European Championship 2010. The team of young but physically strong players has ruled the game of volleyball with their stellar performance. They covered the first stage of the tournament with an imposing result of 5-0 in Pool-1. The city of Bobruisk, Belarus sparkled with outstanding performance from Russia’s “army”, which always remained one step ahead in the game. Everything worked perfectly for Russia and they made their way to the semi-final match.
On the other hand, Serbia also did impressive work in Pool-2. The Serbs were equipped with all necessary tools and techniques to push everyone behind and lead in the game. There plan very much worked until they received a shocking defeat from Italy in the last preliminary match. Nonetheless, the Serbian team qualified for the semi-finals.
Serbia had seized the gold medal at the Youth World Championship in Jesolo, Italy last year, which was the main force behind their good performance in the current tournament. But this time around, the scenario was a bit different, there was a much stronger competitor on the court. Serbia met Russia for the first battle of the important semi-final stage. It was a sort of pre-final match and both teams got their best players lined-up for the game.
The combat started with Russia serving and the game progressed with a good pace. Russia got an advantage in the early moments as a Serbian player hit an illegal shot. The player’s hands remained in contact with the ball for too long, which resulted in a point for Russia. The pumped up Russians attacked vigorously and built a lead of 10-8 at the end of first technical timeout (TT0). Russia tightened the screws by hitting three powerful aces in a row.
The score moved to 12-10 and Serbia was still trailing behind by a gap of two points. The power and weight of heavy Russian spikers totally rocked the podium. The good combination of Koval Dmitry and Safonov Alexander worked for Russia and they maintained the Russian rule at the end of second TTO with 16-14. Serbs tried to shed-off Russian pressure and made a real effort to score points. They tied the score at 16-16, but their joy was short lived as Kovalev blocked an attack and added two more points to Russia’s score.
The Serbs were not too late to respond, Atanasijevic Aleksandar, of Serbia dismissed Russia’s attack and levelled the score at 20-20. A tangled situation was created and Russian coach had to call a time-out. They reformed the attack strategy and started again. Finally the never ending rally came to an end by a pipe of Kovacevic and Russia regained control. In the meantime, Serbia made a few mistakes, which created an opportunity for Russia to win the first set, 27-25.
Serbia clawed back dynamically in the second set and started with a fast attack. Safnok was enraged by the loss of the first set and displayed a great effort, blocking some massive Russian spikes in the second set. However, Russia was in a commanding position after winning the first-set and they kept an upper-hand over their competition. Russia led the score by 8-3 at the end of first TTO. Tsentalovich Oleg of Russia produced good cross-court shots while Nikishin extended the lead to 10-3 by adding one more ace. Serbia seemed totally out of luck and also lost the second set. Russia posted 25-20 to claim a second-set win.
Serbia lost hope in the third set and they really slowed down. On the other hand, Russia’s team was even more thrilled by the smell of victory. They outplayed Serbia in the third set and claimed a semi-final win by capturing the third set 25-20.
Russia paved their way to the final of CEV European Championship 2010.
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