23-Nov, start time: 15:00, end time: 16:21 - Attendance: 6,300

SCG	3	27	25	26	-	-	78
KOR	0	25	20	24	-	-	69

Match Description:

Serbia and Montenegro March On
Olympic champions Serbia and Montenegro remain undefeated in the World Cup after they negotiated a potentially awkward match against Korea with a straight sets win at Site A in Fukuoka.

The Europeans continued their march towards Athens with a 27-25, 25-20, 26-24 win, their sixth from six games, while Korea's chances of qualifying for the Olympics from this tournament were severely dented after suffering what was their third loss.

There was a sense of the two sides measuring up each other at the start as they tentatively reached 9-9. Then the powerful hitting of Ivan Milijkovic and the returning Vladimir Grbic threatened to swamp the Asians.

Yet the resilience of the Korean defense enabled them to claw their way back to 23-23 with a spike from Yoon Kwan-Yeol. But the Balkan side were not to be denied and, despite Korea saving two sets points, they moved a game ahead thanks to another powerful hit from Milijkovic.

The second set produced a number of exciting rallies as Korea struggled to find a way past the effective block of their opponents. Again, it was a case of Korean defense against the European's powerful offense and again the Asians came out second best. Milijkovic continued to rain down his bombs from the accurate setting of Nikola Grbic, while Igor Vusurovic made a number of crucial blocks as his team opened a two-set lead.

Still the Koreans battled on and fought tooth and nail for every point. But Serbia and Montenegro always appeared to have the edge as they secured the victory on their second match point.

Comments:

TRAVICA Ljubomir (SCG Head Coach)
" I'm satisfied with the result of today's game, but I'm not happy about our team's performance. Anyway we managed to win."

GRBIC Vladimir (SCG Player)
" Personally, I'm very happy to come back to the game. Today's game was a very tough one, because Korea's defense is the world number one. In addition, they use quite unusual combinations. However, through the previous game against Japan, we were able to prepare for today's match. The most important thing is that we won 3-0 today. I believe we still have a good opportunity to earn a ticket for the Athens."

CHA Joo-Hyun (KOR Head Coach)
" We used many young players today because we wanted them to gain international experience. And they obviously gained great confidence about competing in the international matches. Even if we lacked Lee Kyung-Soo in the World Cup, Yoon filled his shoes well and I believe there's no big difference in our ability."

CHOI Tae-Woong (KOR Captain)
" Prior to the match we had studied SCG's play well, but against our anticipation, Vladimir Grbic was on the starting list, which upset our tactics a bit. We made several consecutive mistakes at crucial moments, which made a difference to the game."

Official Result:

Match statistics (P-2) - PDF