Thank you Russia! Thank you Croatia! Standing-ovations and applause accompanied Russia and Croatia on their way out of the arena after their high-class match in Pool C. 2.350 fans saw a hard-fought 3:1 (25-21, 26-24, 23-25, 25-22) Russian win over Croatia. The Russian team had to play without their first setter Anna Matienko who was replaced by team captain Ekaterina Pankova due to a broken finger. Nevertheless, the Russians kept the upper hand against a strong Croatian team.

Even though Croatia saved two set balls at the end of the second set, Russia kept the upper hand in tonight’s top duel of Pool C. Croatian wing-spiker Mia Jerkov tried her best to stop the Russian run, but despite of Croatia’s solid game at the net and in defence, powerhouse Russia displayed their mental strength in the deciding moments of the second set.

It was still a hard battle in the fourth set. Croatia led 16-14 in the middle of the set, before Russia’s wing-spiker Tatiana Kosheleva turned the tables with blistering winners from the left to make it 23-22 for Russia. The Russians stayed focused and never looked back until 25-22 and a hard-fought 3:1 win over a robust Croatian team.

Russia head coach Yuriy Marichev: "That was a match on a high level with two equivalent teams. Each set was hard-fought and the result could have been the other way around too. The Croatian players displayed very variable attacks. I’m very happy that we won against a strong opponent.”

Russia captain Ekaterina Pankova: "The atmosphere in the arena was great. The very good defense of Croatia caused us some problems in a game with many long rallies. Croatia was also tactically well prepared.”

Croatia head coach Igor Lovrinov: “The Russian team is used to play more matches on this high level than my team. This could have been the decisive factor in the match today – and the physical advantage of the Russians as well. I’m very satisfied with the performance of my team – not with the result of course.”

Croatia captain Sanja Popovic: „We gave everything we could, but at the end we unfortunately weren’t rewarded for our great performance.”

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