Serbia finishes the league round without any loss – Volleyball News
Nothing less was expected from the in-form Serbian women’s national volleyball team in the last match of league round of 2012 CEV European League when it clashed with Romania.
The visiting Serbs launched full authority on the hosts at the Sala Polivalenta in Piatra Neamt, Romania, and posted 3-0 (26-24, 25-18, and 25-20) victory. Serbia remained undefeated in the opening round of the European League and finished with a perfect record of 12-0.
Serbia’s Jovana Brakocevic and Milena Rasic were the real heroines of the match. They staged an eye-catching action on the net and proved very effective for the team. They added 14 and 13 points, respectively. Moreover, Maja Savic followed them up with 12 points.
MURESAN was the only Romanian, who went into double-figure score. She scored 10 points and created a little buzz on the centre court.
Romania had the obvious advantage of playing at home. Hence, they tried to use the competitive edge and threw powerful serves via Denisa Rogojinaru in opening stanza. She took bigger run-ups and supplied plenty of power to the ball, which created trouble for Serbia’s defensive expert. Serbs, on the other hand, spent some time on the court and tried to grasp the game plan of opponents. In the meanwhile, Romania jumped to 8-5 at the first technical timeout. Gradually, Serbia paced things with strong attacks by Brakocevic and Rasic.
Romania maintained its lead at the second mandatory stop, but Serbia managed to shorten the gap (15-16). Spirited effort of Serbs allowed them to take over the hosts after the second TTO. Thereafter, Romania failed to bounce back and dropped opening set with two-point deficit.
Loss of opening set simply aggravated the home squad. The local supporters enticed the team to make a comeback in the second set. Daiana Muresan came out firing in set-2 and put Romania in lead at the first TTO (8-6). Quite interestingly, the hosts once again lost the tempo and Serbia went up at the next technical timeout. Serbs remained remarkably consistent and continued with their winning ways. They did not stop until the set points at 25-18 and extended their lead to 2-0.
Third set was a sort of ‘do or die’ situation for Romania. The home squad needed to respond quickly, in order to save the match. They started out in their usual style and picked up an early lead. However, Serbians came from behind and sent Romania to 20-25 loss in third set. Romania failed to prove its endeavours and accepted defeat in straight sets.
Serbia pulled off success in the last match of league round and reserved a seat in the final four of the competition.
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