Minsk, Belarus, March 25, 2015.  Vojvodina NS Seme NOVI SAD is now only one step away from the final of the 2015 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup - Men, after winning the first leg of its semifinal clash with Stroitel MINSK.  The Serbian team showed a more confident performance in Minsk tonight and took the maximum against its Belarusian opponent with a 3:1 (25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 25-18) victory.

The team from Novi Sad is led by Serbian youngsters capable of making surprises at any moment of the match.  The powerful start gave them a 12-6 advantage at the beginning of the game.  Mihajlo Stankovic was the main attacking and serving force to keep Vojvodina in the lead throughout the first set.  Stroitel still managed to get as close behind as 22-23, but, with the efforts of Drazen Luburic and Milan Katic, Vojivodina managed to end the set to their advantage – 25-22.  In the second set Sebastian Krause was able to lead the home team to a slight advantage at 11-9 and 13-11), supported by middle blocker Vadzim Pranko for 14-12 and 15-13. The end of the set was a repetition of the first one with a different winner. The Serbian team was very close to eliminating the gap, but Krause scored a break point and then made a kill block for 25-22.

After that Vojvodina regained control and did not lose it through the end of the match.  In the third and the fourth sets the score at the second technical time-outs was the same – 16-11.  Stroitel had a small chance to offer a battle after some successful attacks, but did not get closer than 2 points, eventually losing these sets by 20-25 and 18-25.

Milan Katic with 23 points and Drazen Luburic with 19 were the best scorers for the winning team,

while Sebastian Krause was Stroitel’s most prolific player with 20 points.

Tomorrow, Thursday, the teams will head off to Serbia, where they will play the return semifinal match on March 29.