Boskovic's 20 Points Put Serbia Top of Group Before Ukraine
Serbia swept Greece 3:0 in Brno to clinch first place in Group B a round early, with Tijana Boskovic scoring 20 points. They play Ukraine today at 4 p.m. before the round of 16.
Tijana Boskovic played in Brno as if the final round of the group stage did not exist. Serbia beat Greece 3:0 on August 26, clinching first place in Group B at the European Championship a round early, and the match was over in just 75 minutes.
The set scores read 25:22, 25:13, 25:18. The second set was the clearest sign of how wide the gap in quality really was that day, Greece managed only 13 points and had no answer to Serbia’s serve or block. The win left Serbia unbeaten after four rounds in Group B, a 4:0 record that closed out the standings before the last match was even played.
The most effective player on the court was Boskovic, who scored 20 points on her own. Hena Kurtagic and Aleksandra Uzelac added 12 each, and those two numbers show the win did not rest on a single name. Whenever Greece tried to close the gap, coach Zoran Terzic’s bench had an answer, and that kind of depth matters most at this stage of the tournament, since the first knockout match rarely forgives a team that built its serve and reception around one player alone.
Who is waiting for Serbia in the round of 16?
The answer only comes after tonight’s match. Serbia plays its last group match today at 4 p.m. in Brno against Ukraine, a formality for a spot already secured, though not for the bracket that follows. The winner of Group B faces whichever team finishes fourth in Group D in the round of 16, so the name and current form of that opponent will only be known tonight.
Group B in Brno also brought matches against Austria, Czechia and Bulgaria, alongside Greece and Ukraine. The European Championship runs from August 21 to September 6, and Serbia goes into it on a run of four wins in four matches, without a single loss in the group stage.
Ahead of the tournament in Brno, Terzic told this outlet that keeping every player healthy mattered more to him than any result. Four straight wins in Group B suggest that plan has worked so far, since the coach never had to push a single player past her limit to wrap up the group a round early.
For Boskovic, this continues a run in which she has carried Serbia’s attack in nearly every match, while the points split between Kurtagic and Uzelac show Serbia did not rely on just one option in Brno. That kind of balance tends to matter most against an opponent who knows how to shut down one side of the net, exactly what the knockout stage brings.
Finishing first in Group B has already fixed Serbia’s round of 16 opponent as the team that finishes fourth in Group D. With that part of the job settled a round early, today’s match against Ukraine in Brno carries no weight on the standings, and its result will say more about form heading into the knockout stage than about the group placement.
This form ahead of the round of 16 is no accident, the net and the serve carried Serbia through the entire run in Brno, not only against the weaker teams in the group. The next test comes tonight at 4 p.m., and only after that match against Ukraine will it be clear whether Serbia draws an easier or a tougher opponent in the knockout stage.
