Bjelica Leads Serbia in Dominating Sweep of South Korea

  0 Wendy Mayer | June 14th, 2018 | Asian Volleyball, European volleyball, FIVB Nations League - Women, International Volleyball, News

2018 FIVB Women’s Volleyball Nations League

  • Gimnasio del Campus de la Universidad Tecnologica Nacional; Santa Fe, Argentina
  • June 12-14, 2018
  • Time Zone: UCT – 3; ET + 1
  • FIVB World Rankings: No. 2 USA, No. 3 Serbia, No. 10 South Korea, No. 11 Argentina
  • Preview
  • Schedule/Results

 

Date Time Score Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Total Report
12 Jun 17:40 Serbia  3–1  United States 30–28 23–25 25–20 25–18 103–91
12 Jun 20:40 Argentina  3–0  South Korea 25–18 26–24 25–21 76–63
13 Jun 17:40 South Korea  0–3  United States 13–25 23–25 19–25 55–75
13 Jun 20:40 Argentina  0–3  Serbia 27–29 13–25 16–25 56–79
14 Jun 17:40 South Korea  0–3  Serbia 17–25 20–25 11–25 48–75

 

Serbia def. South Korea 3-0

  • Serbia defeated South Korea 25-17, 25-20, 25-11
  • Serbia moved to 12-3 (37 points); South Korea moved to 5-10 (14 points)

Serbia vaulted into second place in the Volleyball Nations League standings, capping a three-match win streak with a sweep of South Korea.

The Serbians dominated the set in every way, including an 8-1 lead in aces, a 9-4 edge in blocks, 35-28 advantage in kills and with help from 23 Korean miscues. Serbia made 15 errors in the match.

Ana Bjelica scored a match-high 13 points on 11 kills and a team-best two aces for Serbia. Maja Aleksic and Jelena Blagojevic turned in 10 points apiece, while Jovana Stevanovic and Bojana Milenkovic followed with seven points each. Blagojevic notched eight kills, while Milenkovic added six. Aleksic chimed in with a team-leading four blocks, while Stevanovic put up three stuffs.

Jaeyeong Lee guided Korea with 10 points on nine kills and a block. Heejin Kim was right behind with nine points, all on kills. Jeongah Park turned in an all-around effort with a team-best two blocks, the team’s lone ace and four putaways.

The match was never in jeopardy for Serbia, which handed Korea its fifth straight loss.

Here are some post-match reactions.

Serbia coach Branko Kovacevic: “It was a perfect weekend for us because of the results and for the type of game we showed in these three matches. We gave our important players some rest and we have a few more days in Belgrade to get in the best possible shape for the Final Six in China. I hope we can go to the semifinals and also reach the final.”

Serbia player Ana Bjelica: “It was a perfect weekend for us and we’re really happy because we are now in second place and we will go to Nanjing. We did a good job here by winning three hard matches. I think we have great players that can all play.”

Korea player Lee Jaeyeong: “This weekend was important for us, we gained experience facing top teams. We will now go back to Korea to prepare ourselves for the next competition.”

 

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About Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer has worked in athletics media relations for the last 20 years. The Northwest Missouri State alumna is currently senior writer for Volleymob.com after spending the last 15 years with Purdue athletics.

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