The reigning world champs shut out Thailand to stay undefeated
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…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Asian Volleyball Confederation…