Serbian Women win semi-final against Czechs: 2011 CEV European League – Women Volleyball
The Women’s National Volleyball team of Serbia qualified for the final showdown of the 2011 CEV European Volleyball League after they posted a 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, and 25-22) victory over Czech Republic in the semi-final match on Saturday, July 15. The Burhan Felek competition hall in Istanbul, Turkey hosted the important match.
Serbian Team started off well as the powerful jump serves of Brizitka Molnar set the pace in the game. Natasha Krsmanovic and Milena Rasic raised the Serbian score with their strong offensive attack. As a result, Serbs enjoyed an early lead of 8-5 by the first technical timeout. Czech side was down with reception errors and a few net violations. Hence, the gap of points increased by nine points at the next technical break. Serbian team was all over the place and put huge pressure on their opponents. Meanwhile, Helena Havelkova of the Czech Republic stood up against the Serbian strike and resisted the onslaught. Czechs struggled to break the rhythm of the Serbian spikers who were coming from different angles.
However, Serbs remained remarkably consistent and maintained their dominance in the game. Eventually, they achieved the set points and secured an opening set win with a six-point lead at 25-18.
The following set started out on a high note as Czech Republic played fast but avoided silly mistakes. They remained hand in hand with their resilient rivals and trailed behind with just one-point gap at the first technical timeout. Afterwards, the game progressed in the same fashion. Serbian Natasha created a lot of trouble for her opponents but the Czech team continued the struggle. As the second set inched its way to an end, Serbs brought more ferocity into the attack and hindered the performance of the rival side. They didn’t allow Czech Republic to go up on the score-chart and finished the second set with 25-17 victory.
After winning two sets in a row, Serbia was in a better position to go for the third straight win but the Czech side responded with a heavy strike of volleys. They attacked with full force and picked up a lead of 8-5 at the first mandatory stop. Helena and Sarka of Czech Republic formed a good combination and added quick points. However, Serbia bounced back in the game and surpassed them at the second technical timeout. Eventually, Serbia posted 25-22 win over Czech Republic in third set and declared match victory.
Jovana Brakocevic of Serbia was named the top-scorer of the match. She registered 22 points for her team. Czech side relied on Helena Havelkova, who did a great job at attack and defence. She put up a valiant effort and contributed 18 points. Nonetheless, here efforts were futile as Czech Republic lost the match.
The mentor of Czech Republic, Jiri Siller, praised the good effort of the Serbian team and congratulated them for the victory. He stated, “Today the best team won, and that was Serbia. Our attack was not strong enough and we made too many mistakes in serving. Now we have to wait for the classification match”.
The Head Coach of Serbian squad Zoran Terzic was satisfied with his side’s performance. He shared his thoughts after scoring brilliant victory over Czechs. He said: “It was our best match of the season, we played very well, and we did a good job in every aspect of the game. We hope we can repeat it tomorrow”.
As the semi-final is over now, Czech Team is focused on the classification match for third-position. On the other hand, Serbia is all set to hold to the title trophy for third time.
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