Boskovic Rests as Serbia Sweeps Ukraine 3-0

The last ball of the match against Ukraine hit the floor in the Brno arena, and Serbia’s volleyball players fell into a group hug at center court. On the bench, Tijana Boskovic applauded along with them, having watched that final point from the sidelines after spending the entire second half of the match off the court.

The Serbian national team beat Ukraine 3-0 on August 27, 2026, by set scores of 25-21, 25-22 and 25-21, in the fifth and final round of Group B at the European Championship. That result closed out the group in first place, with all five matches won and 15 points, and it meant Serbia didn’t drop a single set to Ukraine all night.

The first set didn’t go to plan. Ukraine exploited Serbia’s early trouble organizing its attack and jumped ahead 9-5, before a turnaround decided the set: Serbia strung together a run of points, tightened up its reception, and took control the rest of the way. The second set was calmer, with Serbia in front almost from start to finish. The real scare came in the third, when Ukraine opened with a 6-0 run. Serbia clawed its way back by the midpoint of the set, and from 19-19 onward it never let the Ukrainians get close again.

Aleksandra Uzelac was the most productive player on the court with 22 points, Branka Tica added 12, while Tijana Boskovic and Mina Popovic each finished with seven. For Ukraine, Oleksandra Milenko led the way with 18 points and Ana Artisuk added 13. The final Group B standings read: Serbia 5-0, Czechia 3-1, Greece 3-2, Bulgaria 2-2, Ukraine 1-4 and Austria 0-5, with the last two teams eliminated from the tournament.

Boskovic’s absence for the second and third sets was no accident. Serbia’s best player has been dealing with a minor heel problem, and the team decided not to risk her ahead of the knockout rounds. Coach Zoran Terzic rotated his lineup after the first set, handing minutes on the outside to Anja Zubic and Nina Cajic, while Maja Ognjenovic gave up her spot to Sladjana Mirkovic for one set. The bench depth Terzic has been building since the start of the tournament paid off in exactly the match where his biggest star had to sit down.

This isn’t the first time in this tournament that Serbia’s depth has carried a match as well as its starting six. Nine days earlier, in the same competition, the team beat Czechia 3-1, by set scores of 25-19, 25-17, 16-25 and 25-17, with Tijana Boskovic scoring 27 points, Aleksandra Uzelac 16 and Branka Tica 14. Back then Boskovic carried the attack from start to finish; this time Uzelac took on that load, and the result was once again a maximum haul of points.

Who does Serbia face in the round of 16?

Here the sources disagree. Tanjug and B92 are already reporting that Serbia will face Croatia in the round of 16. Telegraf and Sportska centrala are more cautious, writing that the opponent will come from the Croatia-Slovakia pairing, as the fourth-place finisher in Group D, and that the name of the rival depends on how that match goes. Until Group D’s final round is played, the only certainty is that Serbia enters the knockout stage as Group B champion, with its opponent coming from either Croatia or Slovakia.

The European Championship for women runs through September 6, hosted across four countries: Turkey, Czechia, Azerbaijan and Sweden. Serbia’s roster, besides Uzelac, Tica and Boskovic, also includes Maja Ognjenovic, Hena Kurtagic, Anja Zubic and Nina Cajic, a squad deep enough to get through a match without its best player.

Realistically, a win like this is worth more than the five points it added to the standings. In Brno, Terzic got confirmation that his bench can hold up for a full set against a serious opponent, exactly what he’ll need once the knockout stage begins and Boskovic is ready to carry a full workload again. The next test comes right away in the round of 16, against Croatia or Slovakia.