Kraków, Poland, August 31, 2017. Serbia beat Bulgaria 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 28-26) in a tense LOTTO EUROVOLLEY POLAND 2017 quarter-final to set up a semi-final showdown with Germany in Krakow.
The second game of quarterfinal evening at TAURON Arena featured the Pool A winners Serbia and Bulgaria who a day before defeated Finland 3-1. This clash of Balkan powers proved to be another three-set duel as the Serbians prevailed in a tight and close match.
The Bulgarians had to deal with another slow start as after Marko Podraščanin’s spike they trailed 4-1. The tournament has shown their capability of increasing the tempo and the tie was quickly there at 7-7. Wonderful blocking and Georgi Bratoev’s setting fault gave the Serbians, who continued to dominate in the middle, a 13-9 lead. They made less mistakes than their opponents, and it was enough to keep the margin untouched. A powerful kill of Dražen Luburić made the score 20-15, but the deficit began to be eaten up by the Bulgarians as they were losing only 22-20 following a couple of Tsvetan Sokolov’s spikes. Uroš Kovačević finally found a recipe to finish the period by serving an ace to make it 25-21.
Bulgaria noticeably improved in defence to begin the second set and Sokolov provided them with an early 4-1 advantage. The lead lasted until Nikola Jovović returned to setting balls to the middle and Srećko Lisinac scored to reduce the gap to 10-7 and a few rallies later 11-9. This was the boost that Serbia needed as Luburić’s block-out play tied the set at 11-all and they even managed to edge ahead. Then the Bulgarians put up the wall at the net but it survived only a couple of minutes as they lacked consistency, made numerous mistakes and consequently they had to cope with a four-point deficit. The Serbians took care of what they had been building for so long and Nemanja Petrić ended the set at 25-22.
Bulgaria began the third period with even more determination, with Nikolay Nikolov’s wonderful kill propelling them to a 6-4 lead, but it was again Petrić that let Serbia come back and gain an advantage at 9-8. Following a short stint of 14-12 in favour of Bulgaria Petrić proved important once more, serving an ace to regain the upper hand at 15-14. After the technical time-out however, Sokolov and Nikolov showed that they will not give up easily and each got an ace to make a score of 20-18. The Bulgarians had several chances to end the set but Kovačević was the man for Serbia and he finished two crucial spikes.
Marko Podraščanin, player of Serbia: “It was a great victory and I think that after this match it will be easier for us to play in semi-final with Germany. We knew that it may be the most important match of this tournament for us, because victory means that we play for the medals and defeat would end our participation in this event. There are two more matches and our next rival is Germany, a very similar team to Bulgaria with strong opposites – here Tsvetan Sokolov and in two days György Grozer, who is one of the best scorers of this tournament.
“Today we performed very well in attack, we showed great energy on court and if we repeat it in Saturday’s match adding to it an even better serve, then we will be on our way to victory. All players had their contribution in this triumph and I think it’s better that this match was not so easy, we had to fight to tie in the second and third set and to end them with positive results for us. The second set showed the character of our team. We were losing, but we were able to win it. In the third set Bulgaria even had set points, but we didn’t give up. A straight-sets victory over Bulgaria is an amazing result. We have improved our game and it was our best match at the European Championship, so I hope that the next one will be even better.”
Nikola Grbic, Serbia coach: “The beginning of this match was crucial for this victory. When we play aggressively, focussed and enter the court with positive energy, then we are able to show our best Volleyball and this is what happened tonight. The fact we were aggressive in service from the beginning, we defended and blocked very well was a key to success. I am very proud of two moments – in the second set we kept calm when Bulgaria led 8-3 and we were able to change the result by our good game, not their mistakes, and the second moment was in the end of third set.
“We deserved this victory, I can’t say any bad thing about my players, because they played a fantastic match. They risked in service and attack. We showed our fighting spirit with a bit of craziness. I am very satisfied that we ended this match 3-0 and I am happy about the way we performed, because in case of losing a set, we would have lost more energy and it would have maybe been harder in the semi-final.”
Srecko Lisinac, middle blocker of Serbia: “It was a fantastic victory for us. We played amazingly in the first set, almost without mistakes. We didn’t allow Bulgaria to lead the game their way. We imposed our rhythm and we controlled the match. In the third set we were a few points behind, because they improved their attack and service, so it was a tough moment. We had some problems with reception in this part of match, but we played magnificently in the end, winning the most important actions and finishing as the eventual winners. We can celebrate our qualification for the semi-finals.”
Svetoslav Gotsev, Bulgarian middle-blocker: “Serbia played better than us, they showed character. We ae eliminated from the championship. It’s good that we are one of the best eight teams in Europe but we hoped to play in the semi-finals. I think that we showed good Volleyball in the matches with Slovenia and Finland. It’s a task for our now to figure out how to improve our game.”
Plamen Konstantinov, Bulgaria coach: “I think that Serbia showed heart and they do so in important matches. This was the biggest difference today. We didn’t come into the match until the end. In the third set we were leading and had a chance to get back into the game. But even then I didn’t see the energy which is needed to do well in this kind of matches. Today it was not working for us on the court.”
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