Serbia failed to qualify for the finals in Milan losing to defending champions Russia
Verona, Italy, October 5, 2014 – Serbia coach Zoran Terzic said their team's lack of courage in the first set cost them the match and the qualification for the finals in Milan as Russia beat them in straight sets at PalaOlimpia on Sunday.
Russia coach Yury Marichev: “Winning the first set made us more self-confident and made Serbia more anxious. This was a nervous match, but we were well prepared for it. I don't know what will happen in Milan, we will think about it once we get there.”
Russia captain Ekaterina Kosianenko: “Serbia are a good team, it's not a secret, in fact they caused us some problems. Tonight we didn't show our best volleyball, we have for sure something to correct. We will work on it, in order to show our best in Milan. Our goal now is to win the gold medal.”
Serbia coach Zoran Terzic: “Unfortunately we don't have decisions or strategies to regret. The only reason why we lost the first set is because we lacked courage, after 24-22 for us we didn't attack, not even once till 25-24 for Russia. We had a very bad reception and we made a lot of mistakes, technical mistakes. This is the reason why we lost the first set, only cause we lacked courage, nothing else. After that it was difficult to play, my players lost self-confidence and Russia won. OK, not very easily, but much easier than I expected.”
Serbia captain Maja Ognjenovic: “When you exit a competition is difficult to say anything, all I can say is that we played the first two sets very well and we even got a few points ahead of Russia. We should have won those sets, if we won the first set I'm sure the match would have been different. I'm very sorry and very disappointed because we had a prefect reception, we played well, but in the end of the sets we weren't able to close them. I'm sorry also because we blocked their strongest attackers but we made a few errors on some easy balls, even on key points. In the third set I don't know, we lost our concentration. Maybe it is stupid to say, but when you lose 3-0 against the USA and 3-0 against Russia, I don't know, maybe we don't deserve to go to the finals.”