Serbia falls to Germany in the third Olympic match – Volleyball News
With match-high 39 points from György Grozer, German men’s national volleyball team defeated Serbia at the Earls Court on Thursday.
The match spanned over five sets and continued for almost 2 hours and 15 minutes. Eventually, Germany came on top and edged out Serbia (22-25, 27-29, 25-18, 25-20, and 20-18). A crowd of 14,000 witnessed the live action of volleyball in London. Germany did
amazingly well and bagged first victory in the Olympic competition. Serbs lost their second match and shifted to 1-2 in the tournament.
György Grozer played an instrumental in Germany’s victory. He added 29 spikes on 57 attempts and also added seven blocks. Furthermore, he was credited for one ace in the match. Max Günthör claimed 20 points, while Denys KALIBERDA finished with 11 points
for Germany.
Serbian Aleksandar Atanasijevic registered team-high 22 points, whereas Milos and Nikola contributed 16 and 13 points respectively.
Opening set of the match covered its length in 24 minutes and Serbs came on top. Germans tried to catch up with the opponents, but lost the set with only three points. Atanasijevic was the main person behind Serbia’s success in the first frame of the match.
Second set of the match featured a point-to-point battle. Raged-up Germans used many different tactics and hit from all angles. However, Serbs kept their grip on the ball and improved to 2-0 by winning second set with narrow gap of two points.
Germans were totally flabbergasted with the loss of two sets in a row. The German coach gave a new plan to his team in the third set and also sent the better substitutions. The strategy worked out and Germany claimed third set with seven points.
Success in third set proved to be a jumpstart for Germany. The team remained on the same course and claimed next two sets in row. Germany secured the last three sets of the match and settled for 3-2 victory.
German spiker Denis Kaliberda stated: “We are always going for the records; the longer the game, the better we are. We still have a chance of getting into the 1/4 finals if we play the way we did today. I do not want to single out any player, but György
(Grozer) scored 39 points, I think this figure speaks for itself”.
He further added: “It was an amazing match with ups and downs. After the first set, I thought it would be difficult - and indeed it was. We needed seven sets to start this tournament; maybe we had a change in our heads. We played more aggressively”.
Germany is scheduled to take on Tunisia in the next match on Saturday at the Earls Court. Likewise, Serbia will play its fourth match against Brazil.
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