Serbia’s excellent blockers Brankica Mihajlovic (No. 9) and Milena Rasic (No. 16) fighting off Turkey’s assault.
Trieste, Italy, September 23, 2014 – In a very balanced game Serbia won over Turkey 3-1 (25-15, 20-25, 25-19, 25-22) in match 6, Round 1, Pool B of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship at the Palatrieste on Tuesday.
Key Facts
- Serbia, ranked 8th in the world, won their second World Championship match against Turkey, ranked 11th. Turkey won against Serbia in 2010.
- Turkey have advanced to the world championship three times, all coming in the most recent editions. They finished 10th in 2006 and 6th in 2010.
- Top scorer of the match was Serbia’s Tijana Boskovic with 22 points.
After a 3-0 lead for Serbia in the first set Turkey recovered and the match became more poised, but the first technical timeout still came with an advantage for Serbia 8-4. Although Karadayi made some strong-armed saves from the back of the court, the Turkish defence lacked coordination and Serbia kept securely leading up to the final 25-15.
In the second set Turkey found their groove and led 6-3, but spiker Tijana Boskovic played out of her skin and brought Serbia to a more balanced score. Seventeen year old left-handed Boskovic was best player at the European Championship U19 this year. Yet Turkey stepped up their attacks and it took Serbia three consecutive points to achieve a 19-all, only to lose the set to Turkey 20-25.
Set three started with Serbia taking charge of the play again. A kill block from Milena Rasic put them into a 7-3 lead. The advantage was maintained in spite of some very good blocks by Turkey. A dump by Serbian captain Maja Ognjenovic chartered a 20-15 score. The good spikes of Turkey’s Neriman Ozsoy were not enough to swing the result, with Serbia sealing the set at 25-19.
The point-by-point exchange continued in set four, with the two teams fighting for every ball and the result too tight to call until the very end, when Serbia clinched the set 25-22.