The Serbian volleyball players were defeated by Iran 2:3 (25:23, 19:25, 26:24, 22:25, 9:15) in a thriller in the round of 16 of the World Championship in the Philippines. It’s a great shame, it seemed that the “eagles” were closer to victory until the fifth set.
Serbia led throughout the first set, but it was clear that the “eagles” were close to winning that period of the game when Aleksandar Stefanović’s block gave them a 19:14 lead. At 24:21, they reached three set points, and Pavle Perić used the last one for the lead.
In the first half of the second set, it seemed that George Krecu’s players could easily reach 2:0, but the Iranians made a 4:12 series after 15:13 and furiously came to an equalizer.
The “blue team” came within reach of a new lead with the result 20:15 in the third period, but at 21:18 the referee makes a mistake and awards a point to Iran under the justification that someone in the Serbian block touched the ball after the smash. It was evident that it was a wrong decision, so the players of Roberto Piazza came to a set opportunity on the wings of the mentioned situation – 23:24.
And then – three consecutive points with which Serbia wins the set!
A smash by Dražen Luburić, a mistake by Morteza and an ace by Stefanović, for a great celebration and a lead in spite of the referee and opponents.
Serbia took a 12:10 lead in the middle of the third set, but the Iranians came to 17:21 with a great series. The blues rallied in the finish, but not enough to avoid the fifth set.
And there – Iran uses the psychological advantage and comes to victory. They led throughout the decisive set, and the fighting “eagles” unfortunately failed to reach the deficit acquired at the very beginning – 9:15.
The most effective player in the Serbian team was the great Luburić with 27 points, while Miran Kujundžić (17 p), Aleksandar Nedeljković (13 p) and Pavle Perić (12 p) were also in double figures. The winning team was led by Hajipur and Morteza with 23 points each, and Hakparast (18 p) also stood out.
Who is in the quarter-finals?
In the fight for the semi-finals, Iran will meet with the Czech Republic, which reached the top eight after a victory over Tunisia. In the semi-finals, the winner will meet the better of the clash between Bulgaria and the United States of America.
In the second half of the draw, in the duel between Nikola Grbić’s and Slobodan Kovač’s players, Poland and Turkey will meet, while the other pair consists of Italy and Belgium.
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Source: SportKlub; Photo: FIVB