Matsumoto, Japan, August 22, 2015 – China fought back to overcome Serbia 3-1 (19-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-19) at Matsumoto City Gymnasium on Saturday.
Serbia captain Maja Ognjenovic: First of all, I have to say that we are very disappointed as we had a really good chance of winning the game. Before the match, we knew China were one of the favourites and we started very well and had a good chance in the second set. I think we lost because our serve wasn’t at such a high level as it was at the start, but we did some things well, like our blocks and defence. But we are playing USA tomorrow so we have no time to be sad or disappointed.
Serbia coach Zoran Terzic: We had a pretty good chance to win today. We could have won the second set; everything was in our hands. We were strong in attack but from the middle of the second set we started to play not exactly relaxed but China started to play better and with more courage than before and it was very difficult to come back after that. But in part, we can be very satisfied with how we played.
China captain Zeng Chunlei: We’re very happy to win the game. In the first set, we didn’t really get into the game and Serbia played well. So we were in a tough position, but after that we regained our strength. In the second set and the last three sets we used some younger players and they played very well, so I’m very happy for the team. Hopefully, during the tournament, we can play better and better.
China coach Lang Ping: Today went as expected. At the start the players were really nervous but that’s normal and we lost the first set. But from the middle of the second set, our players started to get into a rhythm and started to play much better. In the first set, our defence at the net didn’t go so well, so we need to improve that for the rest of the tournament. It was important to understand how things were going. Our attack was good but not our defence, so I changed some players and used our second setter instead of our main setter. I didn’t expect that result, but it worked well.