Epic battle at PalaFlorio: Atansijevic and Kovacevic lead the Balkan side and force Russia to surrender on a merciless Serbia at the tiebreak

Bari, Italy, September 18, 2018 – Serbia downed Russia with a great feat at the tiebreak (25-21, 24-26, 25-17, 22-25, 15-12), boosted by the outstanding performance of the opposite Aleksandar Atanasijevic’s along with the outside hitter Uros Kovacevic, who scored 23 and 21 respectively. The players around coach Grbic ended Pool C as runners-up to fly to Varna with a 12-points outcome in order to compete in the second round.

Despite the outside hitter Egor Kliuka and the opposite Maxim Mikhaylov pacing Russia with 19 and 17 points respectively, the hopes of the Reds Caesar Land were dashed to claim the third spot in the ranking with 10 points and a ticket to Pool E due on schedule in Milan.

In the most-anticipated matchup of the last day of tournament in Pool C at PalaFlorio, Bari, Serbia and Russia, second- and third-ranked respectively, locked horns to unset the balance atop of the charts. With the USA recording 13 points to secure their ticket to the second round, the Balkan machine with 10 points tried to assert their potential along with the Reds Caesar Land treading 9 points thus far. The current standings will see captain Nemanja Petric and his side flying to Varna, Bulgaria, while the men around head coach Sergei Schliapnikov joining the co-hosts Italy in Milan. The spectators who crowded the venue at PalaFlorio have enjoyed a veritable clash of the titans: Atanasijevic against Mikhaylov, Lisinac along with Podrascanin against Muserskyi, as well as Kovacevic, Petric, Volkov and Butko. There was plenty of choice with definetively talented players starring on the same court.

Head coach Sergei Shliapnikov entrusted captain Sergey Grankin instead of Butko with the task for orchestrating the Russian offense, while among the Serbians, Nemanja Petric left the bleachers in order to support both the spikers Kovacevic and Ivovic. The match revealed to be very thrilling since the first spectacular rallies: Russians increased the rhythm of their serving to gain a slight advantage, before the double ace performed by Uros Kovacevic shortening the margin with the score 13-16 at the second technical timeout. Nevertheless, Serbia mounted back to even at 17 points. The Balkans boosted their enthusiasm and tightened the fight as the opposite Aleksandar Atanasijevic scored an ace with a jump service which sealed a 25-21 to claim the lead for Serbia.

The Russian side did not stand for it and responded with moving to the front on the score 5-8 and 11-16 respectively, at the techincal timeouts. On the other side of the net, the men around mentor Nikola Grbic regrouped and managed to come back with the help of Ivovic's solo to step forward as Lisinac levelled the score. Russia put more pressure and finished off a 26-24 set win.

Atanasijevic kept on exceeding the speed limit with a powerful service, thus forcing Russia to pursuit race throughout the third set. Shliapnikov featured a trio on the court with the setter Butko, the outside hitter Berezhko and the opposite Poletaev, but Serbians took set 3 at 25-17 and imposed a 2-1 lead.

Likely in the most exciting endgame in as many matches so far, Russians showed their claws to catch up and eventually overtake Serbia at 22-25 with a 2-2 set draw.

A deserved standing ovation by a passionate audience on an imperative tiebreak to come celebrated a dramatic battle between two titanic teams. Russia struggled to fend off the Balkan side attacks while their opponents edging them with an expected comeback to go for a 15-12 win.

Source: http://www.fivb.org/viewPressRelease.asp?No=78950&Language=en#.W6F5xS2B3OQ