Hong Kong, Hong Kong, July 21, 2017 - On the opening day of week three of the FIVB World Grand Prix tournament in Hong Kong Serbia easily beat Russia in straight sets 3-0 (26-24, 25-14, 25-19).
Serbia coach Zoran Terzić: Congratulations to both teams for the outstanding performance today. Having a match with Russia is always a special game to us. Around 60% of our score comes from our attacks in the first match. We then focus more on the defense and it is easier in the second match. I am glad that we are one of the final six teams and we still have lots to improve in the future.
Serbia captain Milena Rasic: Congratulations to my team for winning the match with excellence performance today. Russia have always been a strong competitor. We made them play little bit slower and that attributed to our victory in this match.
Russia coach Vladimir Kuzyutkin: Congratulations for the victory of Serbia and for their winning the ticket to the finals. In my opinion, we could have won, but unfortunately, luck wasn’t on our side. The first set was a tight match, the scores of both teams were very even, but our performance during the important points was not very good. So I am dissatisfied with our performance today.
Russia captain Irina Koroleva: Congratulations to Serbia for winning today. It was a good match. Our team has made many mistakes today. Unfortunately, we didn’t follow the plans of our coach and didn’t compensate our mistakes. I hope we can perform better in the future matches.