The queens of stress once again treated their fans to a real game of nerves, nail biting, and everything that goes with it. They celebrated against Thailand only after five exhausting sets, defeating a persistent and sportingly “boring” team that kept coming back into the game like a phoenix bird, which can be quite depressing at certain times.
The first set was specific in many ways – apart from two early ties, our selection was never in the lead. Ten mistakes in that set reveal a lot.
What followed was the game we expect from this generation – our girls won the second set sovereignly, leaving the Thai women to 17 points, and in the third set to 19. In that period, they acted like a well-oiled machine that grinds everything in front of them.
And then the “black hole” again – the end of the fourth set belonged to the Thai women, who dictated the pace. With a score of 20:21, the opponents went on a 4:0 run and won the set with 25:20, thus entering the decisive, fifth set.
In the fifth set, there were no doubts about the winner – we went to the change of sides with our lead 8:4, a won block, and all this was part of a terrifying 9:0 series, in a set played up to 15 points.
Selection Svetlana Ilić after the match was, as expected, full of emotions:
I am very happy for the victory. We came to this World Cup to show what we can do. We are the U19 national team, and I will answer in advance to everyone who has already asked me the question – wasn’t it smarter to rest the first lineup before tomorrow’s round of 16? But I say that this is a team that is ready to play in the round of 16 after these five sets. I would not be an athlete or a good teacher if I taught them something else. They are too young to learn some calculations, and I think that what we have done so far gives us the right to believe that in the round of 16, we can achieve what we have set out in our hearts as athletes. I congratulate the whole team because these days were not easy at all, but this is our life, that is what we chose
SOURCE: Croatian Volleball Federation
