Serbian spikers too sharp for woeful Thailand

Sara Lozo and Bojana Milenkovic led world No 7 Serbia to their third consecutive victory with spectacular performances. The duo were joint top scorers award with a match-high 11 points. Team captain Patcharaporn Sittisad led Thailand with 11 points including nine deadly attacks.

With the scintillating win over the hosts, Serbia, who came third in the previous edition two years ago in Turkey, widened their win-loss record to 3-0 and maintained their perfect showing in the top-flight competition, having not yet dropped a set.

Thailand fell to 1-1, with a win over Egypt in the first match, but the hosts still had a chance of making the 16-team second round, which was to be decided by last night’s matches.  

“We did not play as well as we could because we had a problem with our defence. My players’ blocking did not live up to my expectations,” said Thai head coach Apichat Kongsawat after the Serbia match. “Size mattered – my players are much shorter than the Serbian girls. I will go back and analyse our mistakes and work out solutions to improve the team for the matches ahead.”

Thai captain Patcharaporn Sittisad had her own explanations for the loss. “We got a little to excited and failed to control the game. Also, we didn’t have much time for training. That’s why we made so many unforced mistakes.”

In other matches, Puerto Rico beat Egypt 3-0 (25-16 25-20 25-21); China powered past Greece 3-1 (25-7 25-16 19-25 25-10); Poland overcame Argentina 3-2 (25-23 23-25 24-26 25-14 15-12); the USA stunned Brazil 3-0 (25-17 25-15 25-21); Dominican Republic tamed Algeria 3-0 (25-10 25-14 25-10); Peru downed Taiwan 3-2 (23-25 25-19 25-27 25-20 15-9) and Italy crushed Mexico 3-0 (25-15 25-12 25-17).