Serbia celebrate their straight-set win over China in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games women's pool play
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 12, 2016 – Serbian left-handed opposite Tijana Boskovic had a field day on offence, as she guided her team to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-22) win over China in Pool B of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games women’s pool play at Maracanazinho on Friday.
Boskovic topped all scorers with 23 points and team-mate Brankica Mihajlovic tallied 19 markers to outscore the scorers of China led by Zhu Ting, who scored 14 on a losing effort.
Serbia led China in attacks 49-28, in blocks 8-6 and in aces 6-4.
The Serbians, led by Boskovic and Mihajlovic, excelled from the attack line and helped their side outscore the Chinese in the opening set. Serbia suffered some setback as they had a string of errors that allowed China to inch in closer. Serbia contained their errors towards the end to clinch the first set win 25-19.
Boskovic and Mihajlovic continued to exploit their opponents’ weakness in defence. The European side accelerated their offence and defence at the end to gain a 24-19 lead, until Liu Xiaotong committed an error that gave away the set to the Serbians 25-19.
Serbia held a 14-8 lead in the third set, but China patiently worked on their offence and grabbed the lead 16-15. China tried to stay in the game but the Serbians were just too strong and secured set and match 25-22.