Serbia clinched the second
victory over Egypt
 Cairo,
Egypt, June 24, 2007-: Serbia clinched their second victory over
Egypt in straight sets (25-23, 25-20, 25-23) in the fifth
weekend of the intercontinental round Pool C at Cairo Stadium
Complex in Cairo, Egypt on Sunday. Serbia was the dominant side
in blocking while the Egyptian players again committed some
mistakes to lose their tenth match in a raw. Serbia achieved
their sixth victory to raise their points to 16.
Egypt started the match with the same line up that played the
first match on Friday with the Libero Wael El Aidy and included
the Italian based professional setter Abdalla Abdel Salam, the
right attacker Ahmed Salah, the middle blockers Mohamed El Sayed
and Mohamed Ali, the wing spikers Hamdy El Safi and Saleh Fathy.
Serbia head coach put the middle blocker Novica Bjelica instead
of Marko Podrascanin who started the first match with the other
center Andrija Geric. The full star studded team included also
the opposite Ivan Miljikovic, the setter Vlado Petkovic, and the
wing spikers Nikola Kovacevic and Bojan Janic and the libero
Marko Samardzic.
The match started point by point between both teams as both
deployed their block using the tall middle blockers until 5-5.
Serbia used the strong hits of Bojan Janic to reach 8-6 by the
first technical timeout. Egypt showed improvement of their spike
service through Abdalla Abdel Salam to lead for the first time
9-8 and eventually the match went again close with many draws
until the Egyptian players fell in frequent reception and
backline defense mistakes to allow Serbia to reach 16-14 by the
STT. The Egyptian block showed dramatic improvement through
Mohamed Ali and Hamdy El Safi and this allowed them to lead
17-16. It was a thrilling period when both teams used the talent
player in spiking until the draw 23-23 as Serbia used their
impermeable block to win the set narrowly 25-23.
In the second set Egypt had again problems in backline defense
and so the Serbian team controlled the match through the
efficient spikes of Ivan Miljkovic from position 2 and Bjelica
from position 3 and were aided by the skilful setting of
Petkovic to lead 8-4 and then increasing the point deficit to
13-5. Egypt players concentrated on the block using Hassam
Shaarawy and succeeded to win several points till Serbia reached
to 16-11. Serbia was the better side using the service and the
tight block to end the set 25-20.
Serbia wanted to end the job in straight sets so they led the
widely form the start of the third set 6-2 by the fast
combinations by the net which was not managed by the Egyptian
block. The Egyptian coach made some substitutions to save the
match and used the backline players to spike aiming to deceive
the Serbian block to decrease the point deficit gradually till
the result reached to 23-22 for Serbia until they ended the set
narrowly 25-23 and the match 3-0.
Press Conference
Egypt coach unhappy with the
performance
 Egypt
team Captain, Hamdy El Safi:
We played today better than the last match and we were near in
the first and third set. I think we have got more experience
from these strong matches that will help us in the important
continental competitions soon.
Serbia team Captain, Andrija Geric:
We played a good match today but we missed many points with our
mistakes today specially in the third set. We hope to defeat
Russia in the last weekend.
Egypt Head Coach, Ahmed Zakaria:
We had many positive things in this match specially the
improvement of our block and spikes and this was clear
statistically. We lost many important points in the first and
third sets that might bring us to a set victory but we missed
them due to lack of experience. We had also a problem that the
bench ids less than the standard of the standing players.
Serbia Head Coach, Igor Kolakovic:
We had an advantage today that we Had much less errors in the
service. I’m happy with the performance of my players in the
last four matches against Cuba and Egypt. Our defense was
affected by the illness of our libero who had a stomach problem
and we played with Dukic instead of him in the match. I hope to
win Russia in the last weekend to get the second position in the
pool
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