Volleyball World Cup
Volleyball World Cup, the reigning champions defeated a tenacious Polish squad and will now play the United States. Champions in the making Serbia advanced from the quarterfinal stage of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Gliwice, Poland, on Tuesday, keeping them on track to defend their 2018 title in the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship.
The team led by Daniele Santarelli advanced to the semifinals after a dramatic five-set (21-25, 25-21, 25-19, 24-26, 16-14) struggle with hosts Poland in front of approximately 10,000 noisy and enthusiastic local supporters. Volleyball TV will broadcast all FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship 2022 matches live.
In the semifinals, Serbia will meet the defending Olympic champions, the United States. The battle will take place in Gliwice on Wednesday at 20.30 local time (18.30 GMT). The second semifinal, scheduled on Thursday in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, will reunite Italy and Brazil at the Volleyball World Cup.
Schedule and results for the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship Poland Slovenia 2022 Serbia is the first team in international women’s volleyball history to have reached the semifinals of all four major events in the previous six years, having won gold at the 2018 World Championship, silver at the Rio 2016 Olympics at Volleyball World Cup, and bronze at last year’s Tokyo Games.
In their quarterfinal match, star opposites Tijana Boskovic and Magdalena Stysiak engaged in an epic scoring war. If the Pole finished with 40 points (34 kills, three blocks, and three aces), the Serbian at the Volleyball World Cup, who finished with 36 (34 kills, one block, and one ace), was the one smiling as her side advanced.
“It was a fantastic contest,” Boskovic said. “I’d like to congratulate Poland on a fantastic competition and for being outstanding opponents today.” The spectators were completely against us, yet we had a great time performing in this environment. We want to be in the final again, and we knew we had to give it our all until the very last point at the Volleyball World Cup. We were not going to quit even when they were ahead in the tie-breaker. It’s a tough event, and we’ll be back on the floor tomorrow for the semifinals, but I’m certain we’ll find the energy.”
Serbia also had strong performances from outside hitter Brankica Mihajlovic (15 points, 12 kills, three blocks) and middle blocker Jovana Stevanovic (12 points, seven kills, four blocks, and the game-winning ace).
Outside hitter Olivia Rozanski on the Volleyball World Cup, who finished the match with 11 points (nine kills, one block, and one ace) for Poland, was the only other player to score in double figures. Kamila Witkowska scored nine points in the middle block (four kills, five blocks).
Agnieszka Korneluk of Poland grabbed the opening two points of the match with a kill and a block, but Serbia quickly responded and seized the lead at 6-5 thanks to a block by Mihajlovic. The Serbian advantage increased to three points at 14-11 when Stevanovic had a kill and a block, but the Poles responded with three straight points, the latest with Stysiak, to tie the game. Following two blunders by Boskovic, the Poles moved away to a 21-19 advantage and held on till the finish, when Rozanski blocked Stevanovic to score 25-21.
Serbia got off to a stronger start in the second set, scoring 4-0 thanks to a kill by Boskovic. The defending world champions continued pressing and were 11-5 up when Stysiak hammered into the net at the Volleyball World Cup. The host side rallied back and trimmed the Serbians’ advantage to three points at 15-12, but the Serbians scored three in a row and were consistent to the finish, halting a late Pole charge to win the set 25-21 with a kill by Boskovic.
The sides were well matched at the start of the third set until Mihajlovic blocked Stysiak and Serbia took a 10-6 advantage. Poland battled back with three straight points at the Volleyball World Cup, but had to wait until the 13th point to equalize the score with a kill by Stysiak. The Pole opposite spiked out to give the Serbians a two-point lead at 20-18, and they went on to win the set 25-19 by scoring five of the next six points.
The fourth set began with a lot of back and forth, and Serbia only managed to take a two-point lead at 9-7 when Bianka Busa tooled the Polish block. The lead was rapidly increased to four points when Stevanovic blocked Rozanski to score 12-8, but the Poles quickly narrowed it to a single point with Stysiak at 12-11 at the Volleyball World Cup. The Serbians then went on a nice run, and back-to-back blocks from Stevanovic and Mihajlovic put them up 17-12. Stysiak led the Poles to an astonishing comeback, outscoring the world champions 14 points to seven in the last set to win 26-24 and force a fifth set.
Boskovic’s blunder handed the Poles their first lead in the tie-breaker, 4-3. After many lead changes, Poland was able to take a two-point lead with Stysiak blocking an overset at 9-7, but an attacking fault by Klaudia Alagierska-Szczepaniak tied the game at 10 points. Boskovic scored in transition to put Serbia up 12-11 at the Volleyball World Cup betting, prompting Poland to request a timeout. Stysiak scored twice, once with a kill and once with an ace, to put the Poles up 13-12. The Serbians then won back-to-back points and finished the match 16-14 with an ace from Stevanovic on their second match point.
