Serbia loses five-set thriller to the Netherlands at European Olympic Qualifiers – Volleyball news
Serbian women’s national volleyball team opened the 2012 European Olympic Qualification tournament on Wednesday, May 2 and played its first match against Dutch team.
It proved to be a failing effort for Serbia as Netherlands posted 3-2 (20-25, 28-30, 28-26, 30-28, 15-11) victory over Serbs. The thrilling match took place at the Baskent sports hall in Ankara, Turkey.
The first set of the match was a point-to-point battle as both teams stayed near to each other on the scoreboard. Serbia earned one-point lead at the first technical timeout (8-7). The Orajnes trailed behind and had to no chance to chase the score. With
strong offense and solid defence, Serbia moved to 16-12 at the next mandatory stop. The opening frame ended while both teams had the difference of five points. The trio ofNatasha Krsmanovic, Milena Rasic and Jovana Brakocevic led Serbia to first-set win at
25-20.
After dropping the opening set, the Oranjes came up with heavy strike of volleys in the following set. They hit the Blues with full power and managed to break their tempo. The scoreboard showed the better status of Dutch team (8-5) at the FTT.
Meanwhile, Serbia kept looking for ways to shorten the gap of points. At the second technical timeout, Serbia minimized the gap to two points and continued putting more and more effort. The hard work paid off and finally the Serbs retook the lead. In the
30th minute of match, Serbia closed second frame with a margin of two points, 30-28.
The game entered third set and Serbia took up lead (8-6). Dutch players hit back aggressively and went up at the second technical timeout. Serbian side offered utmost resistance to the Oranjes and remained hand-in-hand unless Dutch team closed third set
at 28-26. It was the rise of Oranjes as they never looked back after winning third set. They cruised past to 3-2 victory by claiming back-to-back wins in the next two sets.
The mentor of Serbia, Zoran Terzic, regretted the loss of opening match but praised the wonderful comeback of Dutch team. He said, “We played well in some parts of the game, but badly in the rest. I do not know why, but we played without courage in the match,
especially in serving and attacks. Of course, I am not happy with the result. The next two matches, especially the last match against Poland, are very important for us. We want to succeed in those matches and continue in the tournament.”
On the other hand, the winning coach Gido Vermeulen congratulated his team for a great victory. He urged the team to stay on the winning route in the next tough encounter against Russia on Friday.
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