Serbia start U21 World Championship on the right foot

Serbia overcame the nerves of an opening match and the absence of several players to make a strong start to their 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U21 World Championship campaign in Leon, Mexico, on Thursday.

With 16 national teams from all five continents in contention, the tournament continues until August 26 in the Mexican cities of Leon and Aguascalientes.

The tournament is streamed live on the Volleyball World YouTube channel.

In the first match played in Leon, the silver medalists of the last year’s U21 European Championships triumphed in a tough battle with Asian powerhouse China, securing a tight 3-0 (26-24, 25-21, 26-24) victory.

The Europeans made the trip to Mexico without seven players who would be eligible to compete in the tournament. Some of them, such as outside hitter Aleksandra Uzelac and middle blocker Hena Kurtagić, are with the country’s senior team at the European Championship while others had to sit out of the U21 World Championship due to injury.

“The first match in every tournament can be difficult in many ways,” head coach Vladimir Vasović said. “This one was particularly challenging for us because China play very fast and with a lot of combinations and we’re not really used to it. We had some ups and downs but I’m very happy that we were strong enough to find the solutions we needed to come back in the first set and to take the match.”

Opposite Anja Zubic was the top Serbian scorer in the match, with nine points (seven kills, one ace, one block), followed by outside hitters Ksenija Tomic and Una Vajagic, who produced eight points each.

“It was a great win for our team,” Vajagic commented. “I want to congratulate China for a great fight. I think we did very well as a team, but there are always ways in which we can improve. We’ll face Argentina tomorrow and I hope that we can have another good performance.”

On the Chinese side, opposite Yindi Wang was the main scorer with nine points (five kills, four aces), with outside hitter Shengyan Xie adding another seven.

The second Pool C match on the opening day of the event had Poland taking Argentina down 3-0 (25-17, 27-25, 25-23). Middle blocker Dominika Pierzchała had a team-high 14 points, followed by outside hitter Natalia Rejment, with ten. The top scorer of the encounter was Argentina's outside hitter Nicole Perez, with 16 points.

**2023 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U21 World Championship: Match Schedule and Results**

Also based in Leon, Pool A started with Egypt topping Thailand 3-1 (21-25, 25-13, 25-23, 25-19). Outside hitter Toqaallah Eassa scored impressive 24 points for the winners while opposite Achirayaphorn Kumjaiboon tallied 13 for the Asians.

The last match of the day will have hosts Mexico battling Japan at 20:30 local time (02:30 UTC, Friday).

In Aguascalientes, Italy also got an emphatic win in their Pool B debut, defeating African representatives Tunisia 3-0 (25-15, 25-8, 25-16) with 15 points from outside hitter Stella Nervini and 13 from opposite Anna Adelusi.

The other match of the pool, reuniting Brazil and the Dominican Republic, ended with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-13) win for the South Americans, who counted on 13 points from outside hitter Helena Wenk and 11 from middle blocker Juliana Gandra.

In Pool D, the United States started their campaign with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-21) victory over NORCECA rivals Cuba. Opposite Abigail Mullen, who helped the Americans take gold at the FIVB Volleyball Girls' U19 World Championship last week, had a match-high 12 points, tallying the production of Cuban middle blocker Lisania Grafort.

European rivals the Netherlands and Türkiye will clash in the other match of the pool, starting at 20:00 local time (02:00 UTC, Friday).

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