Serbia Loses to Belgium, Faces Slovenia in Round of 16

When the ball hit the floor of the arena in Tampere in the third set and the referee raised a hand toward Belgium’s bench, the Serbian players knew their group stage was over in third place. The scoreboard read 25-16, the third straight set lost, and with it a 3-0 defeat (25-19, 25-21, 25-16) that closed the men’s national volleyball team’s campaign in Group C of the European Championship on September 17.

It was the third time at this tournament that the Eagles watched a set slip away one after another, but this time there was no comeback like the one Vasilije Masulovic had pulled off earlier in Tampere against Denmark. Belgium led from the start and played all three sets without real resistance from the other side of the net, so Serbia went into the final group match already certain of advancing, with nothing left to decide except where it would sit at the start of the knockout stage.

For coach Zorz Krecu’s side, the best performance came from Drazen Luburic, who scored 12 points, while Marko Ivovic added nine. For Belgium, which climbed past Finland with the win to take first place in the group (Finland lost to Estonia in a parallel match), Fere Regers was the top scorer with 16 points, with 14 more from Sem Dero. Serbia finished the group stage with three wins and two losses: victories over Estonia, the Netherlands and Denmark, and defeats to Belgium and to Finland, the team that dropped to second place by losing to Estonia.

Aleksa Batak faced reporters after the match and did not hide that the team had expected a better position in the group.

“I’m sure we gave everything at this tournament, we expected a better place in the group. There isn’t much time to look back, we showed a great comeback in two matches. Today could have gone better, several players had issues with minor injuries and couldn’t give what they’re capable of. Maybe the problem was that we didn’t have any friendly matches. We’ll give everything in the rest of the competition.”

Batak described the match against Belgium as a day when the bench was thinner than it should have been, and said the lack of warm-up matches before the championship, in his words, left its mark right at the end of the group stage. Stefan Negic said much the same after the match, noting that the team could have played better.

Now the round of 16 opponent is known too. Serbia will play Slovenia, runner-up in Group A, in Turin, after Italy sealed first place with a 3-2 win (25-19, 25-22, 27-29, 19-25, 15-9) over that same Slovenian side. According to schedules released so far, the match is set for Monday, September 21, though the daily Danas has also mentioned the day before, September 20, as a possible date. The statistics favor Slovenia: Serbia has not beaten that opponent in their last eight meetings.

If the Eagles get past Slovenia, the quarterfinal opponent would be the winner of Belgium against the Czech Republic, meaning a possible rematch with the very team that knocked them off first place in the group. Should Serbia clear that hurdle too, the next stop would still be in Turin, with the tournament final scheduled for Milan.

The loss to Belgium changes little in the bigger picture, since a spot in the round of 16 was secured even before the last round. What it does change is the mood heading into the knockout stage: the team that managed to come back from 0-2 down in sets against Denmark had no answer this time from the very first point, and that is exactly the kind of answer it will need against Slovenia, an opponent it has yet to beat. The next chance to change that record comes already on September 21, in Turin.