With their fifth victory at the 34th European Championship, Serbia concluded their participation in Group B and will continue the knockout battles from “pole position.” In the final match of the first round of the competition, Zoran Terzić’s team defeated Ukraine 3:0, with set scores of 25:21, 25:22, 25:21.
The result will be remembered, as will the new record of head coach Zoran Terzić, who coached our national team at the European Championships for the 74th time (the record of 73 “coaching matches” had been held by Giovanni Guidetti), as well as the fact that Hena Kurtagić received the best possible gift for her 22nd birthday.
There is not much to say about the match itself. Serbia played well, seriously, brilliantly at the block, and quite well offensively. There were also some beautiful defensive plays, quality serves, and everything else that matters if you want to play at a high level.
After the first set, in which Aleksandra Uzelac and Tijana Bošković shone offensively with seven points each, Zoran Terzić decided to rest the world’s best opposite hitter for the remainder of the match, so Anja Zubić continued the game.
At the beginning of the third set, Maja Ognjenović also moved to the bench, but things did not start as our coaching staff had expected, as Ukraine took a 6:0 lead! Terzić then brought Nina Čajić into the game (replacing Zubić), and after trailing 5:9, Serbia finally found their rhythm. There was an ace serve and once again a solid block, and we led 15:11 and 17:12… The Ukrainians did not give up. As they bid farewell to the European Championship, they wanted to make the best team in the group work a little harder.
They closed the gap to two points (17:15, 18:16), then to one (19:18), which prompted Zoran Terzić to call a timeout. It was also 19:19, and then the girls in red jerseys realized that the joke was over.
They raised the tempo, and Aleksandra Uzelac put the finishing touch on the match.
For Serbia, Uzelac scored 22 points, Tica 12, while Popović and Bošković had seven each. For Ukraine, who finished their European Championship campaign, Artišuk stopped at 13 points.
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