Impeccable Serbia continue title defence with eighth win

Defending world champions Serbia continued to be the only undefeated team at the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship 2022 after their Pool F game against Thailand at the Atlas Arena in Lodz on Friday. The European side, who are already qualified for the quarterfinals, claimed a 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-15) victory to improve to an 8-0 win-loss record and 23 points at the top of the current pool standings. The Asian team are now in sixth place on 4-4 and 10 points.

Türkiye, second on 6-1 and 17 points, and the United States, third on 5-2 and 15, will meet later on Friday, at 17:30 local time (15:30 GMT). Fourth-placed hosts Poland (13 points) and fifth-placed Canada (11 points), both on 4-3, will lock horns at 20:30 (18:30). In between, at 19:00 (17:00), the two teams at the bottom of the table, the Dominican Republic and Germany, both at 3-4, will play each other and attempt to stay in contention. The top four teams from each of the two second-phase pools will advance to the quarterfinals.

· Watch all FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship 2022 matches live on Volleyball TV.

Serbia outplayed Thailand on all counts, except in unforced errors. Their blocking efforts paid off with 11 stuffs against four for their opponents. They also delivered three aces against none on the other side of the net. However, offence was the biggest difference with Serbia scoring almost twice as many spikes as Thailand, 48 against 26. Opposite Ana Bjelica produced the match high of 15 points, including three blocks and an ace. Outside hitter Bojana Milenkovic also aced once towards a match tally of 14 points.

Serbia’s coach Daniele Santarelli opted not to field his star opposite and captain Tijana Boskovic among the match starters. Thailand jumped into an early 4-1 lead, but Serbia caught up quickly at 6-6 on an attack by middle blocker Jovana Stevanovic, which set off a five-point series, including a Milenkovic ace for 8-6 and a Brankica Mihajlovic swing for 10-6. The Asian team kept the fire burning and tied the score again at 17-17 on a cross-court shot by outside Chatchu-On Moksri. An unforced error gave Thailand a momentary 22-21 lead, but finally Serbia reached set point with Milenkovic spiking for 24-23. A substitution saw Boskovic enter the court for the last rally of the set and raise a monster block for the winning point, 25-23.

Serbia opened a three-point gap at 7-4 on a monster block by Stevanovic in set two, but Thailand caught up at 12-12 after an unsuccessful mid-rally challenge by Santarelli. Serbian setter Bojana Drca tipped on two to put her team in front again and set off an amazing six-point run. With Milenkovic behind the serving line and Mihajlovic on fire in offence, they widened the gap to 18-12 and practically decided the set. Middle blocker Maja Aleksic hammered a first-tempo attack to bring in set point at 24-16 and Bjelica finished the set off with a cross-court swing for 25-17.

The European side stormed into the third set on a 3-0 run, but Thailand managed to draw level at 5-5 on a successful swing by outside Sasipapron Janthawisut. A kill block by middle Watchareeya Nuanjam even put the Asians in front with a 7-6 edge, but as it turned out it was their last lead of the match. An ace by Stevanovic for 8-7 put Serbia back in control of the scoreboard and they never looked back. Continuing to outblock their opponents, the Serbs cruised on to open another wide gap. Milenkovic brought in match point with a block-out shot and Mihajlovic immediately converted it to a 25-15 win with a monster block.

“I am really happy, because we won, we played well from the beginning through the end and we stayed focused the whole match. Thailand play really fast and I can say it’s a little hard for us, but we organised our game well,” said Milenkovic after the game. “Now we look forward to the next game.”

In their last match of the pool, Serbia will lock horns with Türkiye on Saturday at 17:30 local time (15:30 GMT). Thailand will take on USA earlier in the day, at 15:00 (13:00).

Friday’s programme in Pool E, over in Rotterdam, started with the match Japan vs Puerto Rico 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-21), and continues with Italy vs Argentina at 17:15 (15:15) and Brazil vs Netherlands at 20:15 (18:15).

FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship Poland Slovenia 2022: Schedule and results

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