Montreux, Switzerland, June 1, 2016- The third game of the second day at Pierrier Sports Hall in Montreux presented Serbia and Thailand giants from Pool B. The game was action packed and presented a game full of rallies and smashing spikes. Two volleyball giants from Europe and South East Asia presented a spectacular show tonight. The action packed game saw great long rallies and incredible players fighting for victory. Thailand later forced Serbia’s defence and fought through the final tie-break winning 3-2 (25-16, 19- 25, 19- 25, 25 -20 and 13-15). Serbia 2- 3 Thailand.
Pierrier Sports Hall was packed with Thailand fans cheering for their team in hopes of winning volleyball giant and World Cup runners-up Serbia. Serbia won their previous game against host Switzerland and Thailand was up for their first match to challenge their opponents.
The first set was extremely fast paced but Serbia took lead despite being under Thailand’s loud cheering crowd pressure. Serbia formed a much defensive wall comfortably blocking Thailand’s access to any potential attacks. Serbia formed an exceptional lead, decoding Thailand’s defence; however towards the end of the set Serbia made errors which gave hope to Thailand to recover and presented long rallies. Serbia won the first set 25-16.
Thailand entered the second set more confidently as they had revised Serbia, so they were much quicker at challenging Serbia’s tall defence SRB 6-9 THA. Serbia caught up with Thailand and both teams clashed head-on from mid-set towards the end and even Serbia coach Zoran Terzic desperately used the challenge system later forcing him to use his second and final time-out. Thailand put their best and won the second set by 25-19.
The third set came with an incredible battle when both teams failed to form a dominance leading to many ties. The game to this point was undoubtedly the GAME with the most rallies which locked the audience with excitement. Thailand’s wing spiker Kongyot contributed powerful and destroying spikes which unravelled Serbia’s tall blocks and defence. Thailand fought like a hero and won the set when Bjelica from Serbia missed her critical serve. Thailand won 25-21.
The third set started off with Serbia attempting to dominate however by mid-set, Thailand tried to catch up with Serbia. There were again killer spikes by Kongyot and both teams battled vigorously but Serbia managed to keep their distance and won the fourth set.
The match went onto tie-break set and still there was a head-on collision as both teams struggled to rule the game however midway, Thailand took the lead 8-6. Tensions were later high when the two nervous teams reached 13-13. Thailand won the set at 15-13 and the match by middle blocker Bamrungsuk’s excellent block pushing European volleyball giant Serbia tonight. Ana Bjelica from Serbia was the most scorer, she scored 20 points but it wasn’t enough to gain a victory.