Boskovic tallies 23 points as the Europeans down Canada in straight sets
Published 07:46, 25 Sept 2022
Serbian players pose after their Pool C victory against Canada
Defending champions Serbia had a promising start to their 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship campaign as the Europeans cruised past Canada at the GelreDome, in Arnhem, the Netherlands, on Sunday.
The Pool C duel that ended the third day of competition in the Dutch city had the Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists downing their Canadian opponents in three sets (25-23, 25-16, 25-20) to secure a positive start in their title defence.
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Outside of the closely-contested first set, the Serbians dominated the match, outscoring their Canadian rivals in kills (40 to 31), blocks (seven to six) and aces (nine to four). The Europeans also scored 19 points from opponent errors, one more than they conceded.
The Most Valuable Player of the 2018 World Championship, Serbian captain Tijana Boskovic put on a great performance in the team’s opening match. The 25-year-old opposite, who sat out of this year’s Volleyball Nations League to be in her best form during the World Championship, had a 23-point match, built with 18 kills and a match-high five aces.
“It’s always important when we get to start a tournament the way we did today,” Boskovic commented. “I think we played well as a team and had good energy, but the goal is to keep improving in every match and reduce the mistakes. My last tournament with the national team had been last year’s European Championship and I’m really happy to be back.”
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Other individual standouts in the Serbian victory were outside hitter Brankica Mihajlovic, who had ten points (all in kills), and middle blocker Jovana Stevanovic, who had a match-high four blocks to go with four kills in her eight-point performance. Outside hitter Bianka Busa also tallied eight points, with four kills, one block and three aces.
Two Canadian players reached double digits in scoring – outside hitter Alexa Gray, who had 12 kills and two blocks for a total of 14 points, and opposite Kiera Van Ryk, who produced 13 with 12 kills and one ace.
Will all six Pool C teams having now played their opening matches, the Serbians share the top spot in the pool with Olympic champions the United States, who also defeated Kazakhstan in straight sets. In the other match in the pool, Germany beat Bulgaria 3-1. The four best teams in the pool will advance to the second phase of the tournament.
Both Serbians and Canadians will have a quick turnaround and play their next World Championship matches on Monday, when the Europeans will face continental rivals Bulgaria at 16.00 local time (14.00 GMT) and the team coached by Shannon Winzer will have a difficult encounter against NORCECA opponents the United States at 21.00 local time (19.00 GMT). Four other matches will be played during the day.
