Other key contributors to the American victory were middle blocker Brionne Butler, who dominated the net with eight blocks to go with five kills, setter and captain Micha Hancock, who besides running the team’s offense also scored three points, and libero Justine Wong-Orantes, who did a solid job on the backcourt.
Blocking was a major difference between the teams as the Americans produced 13 stops to eight from the Europeans. The Olympic champions were also better offensively (67 to 61 kills), but the Serbians were slightly more productive from the service line (six aces to five) and got more points from opponent errors (27 to 20).
Serbian captain Ana Bjelica led her team’s offense, producing 19 points with 17 kills and two aces. Outside hitters Bianka Busa (15) and Sara Lozo (12) and middle blocker Maja Aleksic (13) also scored in double digits in the first match of the world champions under the guidance of Italian head coach Giovanni Guidetti.
Serbia had won the three most recent encounters with the Americans, having knocked the Olympic champions out of the VNL 2022 in the quarterfinals and ending their 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship run in the semifinals.
Volleyball Nations League 2023: full schedule and results
The world and the Olympic champions will both have difficult challenges in their second matches in Antalya with Serbia getting back on the court on Thursday, at 20:00 local time (17:00 UTC), to face Türkiye, and the USA playing again on Friday, at the same time, against reigning VNL champions Italy.
On the other match of the pool in Antalya, hosts Türkiye made their debut in a strong way, securing an emphatic victory over Korea. The encounter marked the first appearance of star opposite Melissa Vargas with the Turkish national team and she made an excellent first impression, leading all scorers with 15 points (13 kills, one ace, one block) - outside hitter Jeong Jiyun led the Asians with ten.
