Serbia the last European women's team standing at Tokyo 2020
Recap
Quarterfinals of the women’s volleyball competition at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 brought bittersweet results for the fans of European teams. At least one of the teams from Europe had guaranteed place in the semifinals, following the draw that saw Serbians facing Italy in the quarterfinal game. Turkey lost to Korea in an emotional five-set match, while Italians were unable to challenge Serbia who won the game in three sets. Following their great opening set against Brazil, ROC were not able to continue their game against the Brazilians, losing in four sets. With Turkey, Italy and ROC out of the competition, Serbian team is the only one who still has a chance to bring an Olympic medal back home.
Serbia vs Italy 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-21)
Serbia reached the semifinals of the Olympic Games for the second consecutive time. The team played an all-European quarterfinal, competing against Italy. Both teams had a good run in their respective pools, finishing second in their tables. In today’s quarterfinal Serbia dominated on the court, leaving Italy a little room to fight back. Aside from a short lead at the beginning of the third set, Italians couldn’t find the recipe for the Serbian side. Tijana Boskovic continues to deliver the necessary points for Serbia, scoring 24 across three sets, including 21 points and 3 blocks. Milena Rasic followed with 10 points, including 7 winning spikes and 3 blocks. On the Italians side of the net Paola Egonu scored 16 points, including 15 winnings spikes and 1 ace.
In the semifinals Serbia will be playing against USA, who beat Dominican Republic in their own quarterfinal. The semifinal will be a replay of their clash from Rio 2016, when Serbia beat Americans 3-2.
Anna Danesi“We know Serbia is a really good team, but the problem is not Serbia, it’s our game. We didn’t do our best. We have to try to learn from our mistakes. Throughout the match, especially the second set, it was like we were never in the game. They base their game on Tijana Boskovic. We know that she’s one of the best, but we have to see what our mistakes were, review our game and our approach on the court. Our strategy was to stop Boskovic, but we didn’t do that. It wasn’t easy.”
Middle Blocker of Italy
Maja Ognjenovic“Today we did everything we spoke about with our coach. We had three friendly games against Italy in Belgrade, just before the Olympics, so that helped us prepare. We weren’t expecting this easy game. In Belgrade all three games we played ended 3-2.”
Setter of Serbia
Korea vs Turkey 3-2 (17-25, 25-17, 28-26, 18-25, 15-13)
It took another long battle at the Olympics, but the Turkish lost it by a margin. Coming from 2-1 behind in sets, Turkey put on a tough fight in the fourth set, tying the score to 2-2. Koreans succeeded in the tie-break by just two points, ending Turkey’s Olympic dream. Both team went head to head in attack, scoring 63 points through winning spikes. Turkey dominated in block and serve, scoring 16 stuff blocks and 7 aces, comparing to 12 blocks and 4 aces from Korea. The errors, sadly, made the difference as the Turkish team lost more points due to their own mistakes. Captain Kim Yeong Koung put up a stunning performance for Koreans, scoring 28 points. Meryem Boz was not far behind, scoring 24 points, followed by captain Eda Erdem with 15 points.
In the semifinal Koreans are set to face the winner of the clash between Brazil and ROC.
Giovanni Guidetti"We fought to the last point but Turkish fans deserved a win today. It was disappointing to lose this way, we didn't take advantage of opportunities while Korea took advantage of our weaknesses. Korea took a lot of risky serves and it worked. If we had kept up our level of reception we could have won. Our attack was too weak. Every time we play an Asian team they manage the ball well. We have to learn how to overcome their defence."
Coach of Turkey
Brazil vs ROC 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-22)
ROC controlled the game form the beginning, leading throughout the first set and winning it 23-25. Their performance continued in the same manner into the second set, where they managed to go 10-15 ahead. But that’s when Brazil hit back, tying the score at 16-16 and taking on the lead to level 1-1 in sets. It was a turning moment for both teams, with Brazilians maintaining their dominance across next two sets. ROC came close towards end of the match, at 22-21, but Brazil gained their first match point at 24-22 and used their first chance to secure victory and advance to the semifinals. Despite the loss Arina Fedorovtseva was the top scorer of the match with 20 points (18 winning spikes, 1 block and 1 ace). Irina Voronkova added 18 points of her own, while Irina Koroleva scored 14, including 6 blocks. It was a collective scoring effort on the Brazilian side with Gabriela Guimaraes leading the scoring board with 18 points, followed by Caroline De Oliveira and Rosamaria Montibeller with 16 points each.
Brazil will be facing Korea in the semifinal on Friday.
Irina Koroleva“We beat China and the USA, so this is something that we’ve never done before and this is a really positive thing. This is really something very exciting that we’ve achieved overall from these Games. With our strong players we were able to beat China for the first time and this was something extraordinary. In general, I think we did better than we did in Rio.”
Middle Blocker of ROC