Shaky start for Serbia at 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth Volleyball Championship
The silver-medallist team of 2009 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship, Serbia experienced a shaky start this year. Serbs crossed ways with the Chinese competitors in the second match of 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship in Pool D. China built the
winning score of 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, and 25-14) and pulled off success. The match was played at the Baskent Sports Hall in Ankara, Turkey on Friday, August 12.
China had a great attitude in the game as it was labelled as team with three titles of the FIVB Youth World Championship. China won the previous editions of the championship in 2001, 2003, and 2007.
Top-Scorers
Ruoya Xu of China was named the top-scorer of the match. She put up valiant effort and registered 16 points for China on 12 attacks, 2 blocks and two serves. On the other hand, Bianka Busa of Serbia was the highest scorer on her side. She clipped 14 points
via 12 successful attack-attempts and two serves.
Match-overview
China had a strong team-line and all the squad looked ready for the fight. They opened the game on a strong footing and promptly earned better status. The furious attacks of wing spiker Ruoya Xu devastated the Serbians in opening set. Serbia couldn’t stay
in the way Chinese spikes and dropped first set by trailing behind with 10 points. Serbian outside hitter (OH) Bianka Busa struggled to bring her team out of the blues in second set. She formed a good combination with Natasa Cikiriz and led the scores once.
However, the resilient rival China bounced back and regained the control of operation. China captured second set as well and led the game with 2-0.
Serbs fought bravely in the third se as it was their only chance to save the game. They picked up a strong lead and led the scores for better time. China came on time as usual winning the critical points of the set through the skilful combinations and made
Serbia regret the loss of third set with narrow gap of two points.
Post-match
“They were better than us. If you want to beat China, you have to play aggressive. We did that in the third set but they were more aggressive against China is my favorite team of the tournament,” said the Serbian Head Coach Milan Grsic after the match ended.
Anyhow, Chinese skipper Jiao Chen praised the good effort of Serbs. She said that Serbia played really well. She opined that Serbia had strong attack and made it quite difficult for China to win.
Chinese mentor Mang Shen had the similar thoughts to share about Serbia. He commented: "The sets were difficult for us as you can see from the score. Serbia is a very good team but we were better in defense and attacks so we won the difficult match"
Ironically enough, Serbian Captain Bianka Busa had the similar thing to say about her team and performance like the coach said. She stated, “They are better than us. They did much better defence. We were lacking in all areas. They deserved the win.” Hence,
it seems like Serbs were greatly disappointed with their performance in the opening match.
Next up
Serbia will have the chance to prove their endeavours in the next match against USA on Saturday. On the other hand, China is scheduled to take on Puerto Rico in the second match. Puerto Rican lost their first match of the tournament, which will certainly
give a psychological advantage to China in the second match. Check back for latest updates and news.
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