Russia defeats Serbia by 3-2 in a FIVB World Grand Prix match - Volleyball
The Russians and Serbians were up against each other on August 20th on the final day of the starting round of the FIVB World Grand Prix. The two teams found each other competing at the Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, Japan, and the resulting competition
took five long sets to come to a close. When the day was done, it was the Russian side that was celebrating their hard earned win at 3-2.
The opening set was completely dominated by the Russians who made a quick job of the win. The second set saw the Serbians play more energetically and give the Russians competition that enabled the Serbs to equalise the match. The third set was thrilling
as well with both teams neck and neck during most of the set. Losing two sets in a row did not go down well with the Russians and they took the match to a fifth set by bagging the fourth one. After the Russians had won the fifth set, the final set scores stood
at the following figures: 25-13, 21-25, 22-25, 25-17 and 15-8.
The Russian coach, Vladimir Kuzyutkin, shared his views in the following manner at the press conference that was conducted after the match: “It was certainly a difficult match and we had many problems during the match. We have to keep improving as a team
and also individually. The reason why we won was because we took advantage of their problems.”
On the other hand, the Serbian coach, Zoran Terzic, had these words to say regarding the match: “I don't know what the reason was. Maybe we were a bit scared – I don't know what is the reason we played pretty badly in a big part of the game.”
The Russians were leading the opening set at 8-3 that they were able to extend all the way to 18-10. Russia did not let go of the advantage and kept in the lead at 22-10. It was only a matter of time before the Russians were able to seal the deal at 25-13.
The Serbians were leading at 15-14 in the second set and kept the advantage until the end at 23-21. The Russians efforts were not able to stop the Serbs from tying the match by winning the second set at 25-21.
The second technical time out of the third set saw Serbia in the lead at 16-12. Russia was able to bring the match to a tie at 20-20 but Serbia capped off a win at 25-22. However, the Russians stepped up their game in the fourth set and took the lead at
11-7. After that point, the Russians did not let go of the advantage and rested after they had a win at 25-17. The Russians got the lead early at 7-3 in the fifth set and clinched a win at 15-8.
The top scorer on the Russian squad was Ekaterina Gamova who tallied 26 points while the Serbian Sanja Malagurski led her side by posting 23 points in the entire match.
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