Belgrade, Serbia, October 1, 2011. In front of 8’500 spectators at SC Pionir sports hall in Belgrade, host Serbia overpowered Turkey in extremis in today’s second semifinal at 2011 CEV Volleyball European Championship – Women. After a fiercely disputed, never-ending battle, Serbia came out in top 3-2 (25-10, 25-22, 23-25, 23-25, 15-12) after 124 minutes of play. Serbia will challenge unbeaten Germany in Sunday’s gold medal match of the EuroVolley 2011, while Turkey will fight for bronze versus Italy.
The two opposites were the main protagonists of the match with both players scoring 23 points for their team. Milena Rasic added 16 for Serbia, Neriman Ozsoy 17 for Turkey.
Schedule for Sunday, October 2, 2011:
15.00 (local time) - bronze medal match - ITALY vs. TURKEY
18.00 (local time) - gold medal match - SERBIA vs. GERMANY
Match report:
Natasha Krsmanovic blocked a Neslihan Darnel hammer to give Serbia a four-point lead at the first technical timeout in set No. 1. Special guest Novak Djokovic as well as 8’500 thrilled spectators saw an excellent host team at the start of today’s second semifinal in Belgrade. Jovana Brakocevic fired from back row, Milena Rasic and Krsmanovic set the pace in the middle and captain Jelena Nikolic and Brizitka Molnar added their part at the wings. On the other side, the guests from Turkey couldn’t cope with the breath-taking situation in SC Pionir sports hall. Kirdar Gözde sent the ball wide at 25-10 (!) to offer the hosts an undisputed first set win. Serbia had five blocks and two errors in the first period, Turkey zero blocks and seven mistakes.
Things didn’t change in the beginning of the second set. Rasic added an ace to her remarkable show, giving the Serbs an unquestionable 15-10 lead. The Turkish ladies did their best to bounce back, but they lacked the speed and power their opponents had. However, Eda Erdem reduced the gap to three points at 16-19, before captain Esra Gümüs stopped Brakocevic at 22-21. Serbian head coach Zoran Terzic called his players off court to have a serious talk. It helped as Rasic took her team back on winning track at 23-21. Brakocevic brought up set point at 24-22, before Krsmanovic closed the second set out with a one-leg attack on the right. Nevertheless, Turkey showed at the end of the second set that there was still room for improvement in their game. Five blocks and more efficiency in attacking were positive signs for the guests to still believe in their chances.
Indeed, there was nothing to separate the two teams in the beginning of the third set. Serbia led 8-7 at the first technical timeout, but Turkey was one point ahead at 11-10. Nikolic kept cool in a never-ending rally at 15-15, but Serbian setter Maja Ognjenovic sent the following serve out of bounds to offer their guests a one-point lead at the second technical break. Neslihan as well as Neriman Ozsoy pushed Turkey forward to 20-17. At this stage of the match, both teams took a lot of risk with serving to disturb their adversaries’ offensive patters. The set now balanced on a knife’s edge. Turkey led 23-22 and 24-23, before Erdem ended it in Turkey’s favor with a quick combination on the right. Serbia committed seven errors in the third period, whilst they only had five in total in the first two sets.
As in the previous sets, both setters forced their middles to set up a quick game at the start of the fourth set. Turkey was two points up at the first technical timeout. More than never Neslihan found her rhythm and set the Serbians a difficult problem with her various spikes and hard as iron blocks. Erdem opened a three-point gap for Turkey at the second technical timeout. Terzic brought in Ana Antonijevic and Sanja Malagurski, but it didn’t help. Serbia had lost their momentum, while Turkey were looking up. Rasic brought the home squad closer at 20-22. Toksoy Bahar answered with a sharp spike through the middle, before Neslihan placed a well-timed winner on the right side. Erdem, again, still had enough power at 24-23 to end the set in Turkey’s favor with a burning missile through the Serbian block.
Turkey jumped out for an early 3-0 lead in the fifth and deciding set. Serbia struggled with passing, while the Turks took advantage of their strong serves. At 1-5, Jovana Vesovic replaced Nikolic to reinforce the defensive section of the Serbians. It had the desired impact as the hosts came back to 4-5. Turkish libero Gizem Güresen was everywhere on the court, but couldn’t stop Brakocevic to level the game at 6-6. Still, Turkey kept a one-point lead at changeover. Toksoy moved the scoreboard forward in Turkey’s favor with a block kill on Brakocevic. Ozsoy sent the Mikasa out of bounds at 9-9, and Neslihan did the same one rally later to give Serbia their first lead in the tie-break. It was a breath-holding suspense in tonight’s deciding phase of the second semifinal with both teams advancing point per point. Molnar blocked Neslihan at 13-12, forcing Turkish head coach Marco Aurelia Motta to call his last timeout. Rasic added an ace to make it 14-12, before Brakocevic closed the set and match out having the Serbs a lucky escape in this mind-blowing 124-minute semifinal thriller.
Serbia head coach Zoran Terzic: “First of all, congratulations to the Turkish team and their head coach for their best performance so far. I have said we can do it better than versus the Polish team, but it wasn’t as good as I thought it will be. If we don’t work on improving some details, we won’t be able to do anything. The fifth set showed a great dose of self-confidence. Nevertheless, I'd like to congratulate my team for their performance tonight and for being the best team in Europe today. We have made a huge success this year; first place in European League and third in World Grand Prix, that's why I'm looking forward to this final as a crown of our abilities. I’ve never been as proud of my players as I am now."
Serbia captain Jelena Nikolic: “I'm still overwhelmed by emotions. We entered this match better prepared than for the match against Poland and even though we started well, we allowed ourselves to make too many mistakes. That caused us losing two very important sets, but we pulled back into the game and I think we deserved our victory tonight. I have to point out that the beginning of the fifth set was very hard and difficult for us, perhaps we started a bit uncertain, but we kept cool and we finally reached the highest goal, the gold medal match.”
Turkey head coach Marco Aurelio Motta: “My deepest congratulations to the Serbian team for their victory. They were more stable than we were, but we had our good moments. We began well, spending a lot of mental energy at the beginning of the match. Anyway, I’m proud of my players. This was a very important championship for my team. We managed to beat the teams of Russia and Italy, and I repeat it again – I’m very proud of my team and its performance.”
Turkey captain Esra Gumus: “Before I say anything, I'd like to congratulate the Serbian team for the outstanding performance; they’ve done a great job tonight. At the beginning of the match, it seemed we couldn’t manage their strength, but after the second and the third set we bounced back strongly. In the fourth set we played harder, but in the end, we lost the match. We made a lot of mistakes and that eventually cost us the victory."