Russian women’s team earns victory over Serbian competitors in the first encounter of New Year
After a 3-week break, the 2011 CEV Champions League re-started on Tuesday, 4th January, 2011. The fire was re-ignited as men’s and women’s teams descended in the courts and demonstrated their skills. One match was played in the men’s section,
while women’s side feature four matches on Tuesday. In the Pool A, Serbian Women’s team Crvena Zvezda BEOGRAD stroke with arch rivals Zarechie ODINTSOVO of Russia. The city of Beogard, Serbia hosted the five-set thriller where Russian team clinched success.
The Sumice sports hall in Beogard echoed the uproar of spectators.
Pre-match
Serbian team’s head coach, Ratko Pavlicevic expressed his views before the match. He said, “We will try to play a motivated, wise and strong game. We played quite well in the first match against Zarechie and we will try to play even better this time. It
is necessary that we keep improving and raising the level of our game as these matches in the CEV Champions League are a precious opportunity to affirm the value of our club. I have to stress that our team is still very young, quite inexperienced and that
each and every match is extremely important. We will do our best to take home some more points and sets”.
Serbia vs. Russia 2- 3 (25-23, 16-25, 11-25, 25-18, and 11-15)
The home side opened the match with confident serves. Serbian team has worked really hard throughout their Christmas break. They knew the capabilities of Russian competitors and worked out a great plan to subdue them. Serbian players came strong on visitors
and put the early points on board. The Russian team took a little time to settle down in the court. They returned the ball in Serbian half and contributed some points. However, the Serbia led the game with 8-4 lead at the first technical timeout.
In the meanwhile, Margareta Kozuch of Russia produced wonderful cut-shots and clipped consecutive points. Russian started the heavy strike and devastated Serbia’s defence line. Russians covered the gap of points and continued with hard-hitting. The explosive
hits of Russian attackers raised their score and put them in the lead. At the second technical timeout, Russian led the game with 16-11. Serbia struggled and managed to break the rhythm of Russian spikers. They made a great comeback and pushed the rivals behind
the attack line. Serbia got perfect kills and secured first by posting 25-23.
The loss of first set simply aggravated Russian national champions Zarechie. Russia hit back strongly in second set and built an early lead of 8-5. They remained consistent in hitting powerful serves and launched their authority on the competitor side. Brazilian
Walewska Oliveira played an important role and led her team to success. Serbian squad resisted but failed to stop Russia from scoring. The better defence and attack capability of Russian squad earned them victory in second set. They posted 25-16 and levelled
the game score at 1-1.
Russia was back in business as the victory in second set put a new thrill in Russian players. They rolled off the ball in Serbian half with full power and didn’t allow them to raise head in the game. Serbia suffered the damage and third set slipped through
their hands. Russian claimed the set with big margin of 14 points. They sealed the set at 25-11.
Russia opened the fourth set with strong hits and picked up an early lead. On the other hand, Serbian team fought bravely and stood in the way of Russian spikes. Serbian players involved Russian side in long rallies and managed to steal points. Fourth set
ended in Serbia’s favour as they sent 25-18 on the scoreboard.
The 15-point golden set started with an exchange of powerful shots. Russia attacked from different angles and created a lot of trouble for Serbian team. The home squad played under-pressure and couldn’t avoid the chances of defeat in final set of the game.
Russia posted 15-12 victory over Serbia in fifth set and pulled off match victory. Russia has booked a slot in the Playoffs 12.