Serbia find way through Bulgarian block to win VNL opener

A young Serbian team showed nerves of steel and resilience to turn the tables and start their Volleyball Nations League 2022 campaign with a win on Tuesday in Ottawa, Canada.

The group of players led by head coach Igor Kolakovic lost the first eight points of the match and dropped the first set against Bulgaria, but came back strong to win 3-1 (19-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-20) and collect all three points.

· Watch all VNL 2022 matches live on Volleyball TV.

The key to the Serbian victory was adjusting to the Bulgarian block during the match. Led by middle blocker Aleks Grozdanov, the Bulgarians produced eight blocks in their first 18 points, putting a lot of pressure on the Serbian side. The Serbians found their rhythm at the end of the first set and, even if they were vastly outscored at the net by their opponents by 15 blocks to three, they dominated the remainder of the match.

“They’re very tall and excellent blockers,” outside hitter Miran Kujundzic said. “After what they did in the first set, we knew we had to change something. We just tried to play smarter, find the gaps, use their hands a little bit better and change our timing and that worked.”

The 24-year-old Kujundzic was also instrumental in the Serbian comeback. Besides leading the team with 19 points, the outside hitter also fired a match-high six aces, scoring the match-winning point from the service line and significantly contributing to this team’s 8-3 advantage in the skill.

“The first set was difficult for us,” he reflected. “We’re a very young team and everything is new for us. After the first set, we knew we had to be more aggressive with our serves and I’m one of the players with that responsibility. We found a good rhythm and did things better.”

Volleyball Nations League 2022: Full schedule and results

Other standouts in the Serbian victory were opposite Dusan Petkovic, who tallied 11 points, all in kills, and middle blocker Aleksandar Nedeljkovic, who added ten with six kills, three blocks and one ace.

Bulgaria’s Grozdanov and fellow middle blocker Svetoslav Gotsev were the best blockers in the match with four and five points respectively, while opposite Radoslav Parapunov left the court with 14 points (13 kills, one block).

Serbia will have other challenging opponents on Thursday, when they face reigning Olympic champions France at 16.30 local time (20.30 GMT).

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