Serbs continue with success on second day: 2011 FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship
After posting a wonderful straight set win over Belgium on the opening day of the tournament, the Men’s National Junior Volleyball squad of Serbia faced off against Iran on the second day and added another win to their tally. The Caio Martins hall in Niteroi,
Brazil hosted the 5-set match on Tuesday, August 2. It was a heated competition, where Serbia claimed better status by posting 3-2 (23-25, 22-25, 30-28, 25-18, and 15-13) on board. The ball kept rolling over the net for 2:18 hours.
The team captain for Serbia, Aleksandar Atanasijevic, played an instrumental role in his team’s success. He was credited for his successful attack-attempts and he also did a great job at defence and serving. Aleksandar chipped in match-high 38 points via
34 attack, 1 block and 3 aces. Following his footsteps was Uros Kovacevic, who contributed 20 points in Serbia’s score.
Pourya Fayazi of Iran also put up good effort and added 23 points on 20 spikes and three blocks.
The opening phase of the match portrayed Iran on top of the game and Serbia trailing behind. The hard hitting of the Iranian spikers and solid blocking allowed them to get their hands on the early win in the first set. Serbs remained close to their counterparts
on the scoreboard but dropped the opening set with a margin of 2-points at 23-25.
Serbs tried to prove their endeavours in the following set but the opponents denied their efforts. Pourya Fayazi of Iran displayed a great performance and led his team to another set-win 30 minutes.
Team Serbia was totally raged up after losing two set in a row. They threw everything in attack in third set and incorporated best of their tactics. The centre court imitated the battlefield as both sides exchanged long rallies and hit the ball hard. Eventually,
Serbia managed to dismantle the power of Iranian team and captured third set. It was the longest set of the match, which continued for 38 minutes.
The next two sets saw frequent ties of scores but Serbia was set to beat Iran. They pulled off success in fourth set and hit the equalizer, while keeping the same momentum won final set of the match as well. It was great comeback of Serbian team as they
found their feet after dropping two opening sets. Serbia now leads the Pool D ranking with maximum points.
Serbian Head Coach Milan Zarkovic shared his thoughts after the match and stated, “They wish to play us again and we would like to meet Iran again. We wish to play them in the semifinals or finals. In some parts of the match, we were very strong. In the
last sets we came back stronger.” Likewise the Iranian Coach Jovica Cvetkovic stated that, “It was a very good match, very well played, good performance. It was a difficult match for both sides”
The skipper of Iranian team, Farhad Salafzoon, hoped to meet Serbia again in the tournament and settle the score.
The consecutive victories in the first round confirmed Serbia’s participation in the next round of top-8 teams. One more team from Pool D will have the chance to qualify for next round. Iran has high hopes to reserve a berth in the second round by beating
Belgium in the next match.
In the next run, Serbia is set to clash with the Canadian team in the last of the preliminary round on Wednesday, August 3.
Tags: