Montreux, Switzerland, June 3, 2016- The third game of the fourth day at Pierrier Sports Hall in Montreux presented two Olympic volleyball giants The Netherlands and Serbia from Pool B. The game was action packed and presented a game full of incredible defence, superb spikes and entertaining rallies which the Dutch side won 3-1 (25-18, 25- 23 and 22- 25 and 26-24).
Pierrier Sports Hall hosted the long expected game between the two Olympic volleyball favourites from the European continent, The Netherlands and Serbia from pool B. These two teams will compete against each other in the upcoming Olympics, so today’s game was a real test for the youth talent to prove themselves.
The first set brought magnificent defence as the two sides were extremely powerful with their blocks. Young Celeste Plak from The Netherlands proved herself extremely powerful with her strategic blocks helping her team to lead the first part of the set. Serbia took timeout when they were behind by 16-12, Coach Zoran Terzic had to give more effective tactics. The team from then onwards continued making mistakes aiming outside the court which gave the Dutch side error points. The set ended with
The Netherlands winning 25-18 with Robin De Kruijf’s excellent spike.
The second set started off with Serbia’s errors in passing which was an advantage for the Dutch side. Towards mid-set, Serbia unravelled the Dutch defence using Mina Popovic’s effective spikes later to come to a tie at 14-14. The set continued head-on, point by point as both teams failed to form a dominance as they were two equal strengths but, young Dutch Celeste hit the limelight with excellent attacks helping her team win the second set by 25-23.
The third set came with an incredible battle with long consistent rallies and head-on clash as Serbia were eager to win the game to secure the second ticket to the semi-finals. Serbia pushed the Dutch side but continued aiming outside the court costing them precious points. Towards the end of the set, Serbia continued dominating and with a block-out made by the Dutch’s allowed Serbia to remain in the race for the second ticket winning the set 25-22.
The fourth set remained intense and continued head-on with ties at every point even at 24-24. There was an incredible battle between Europe’s bests, but unlucky misses made by Serbia cost them losing the ticket to the semi-finals. The Netherlands won by 26-24 overall winning this highly active and powerful match 3-1. Young Wing Spiker Celeste Plak from the Dutch team scored a whopping 27 points becoming the most scorer of today’s game followed by Serbian Maja Malagurski scoring 23 points but being enough to win the game.