With a 3:0 victory over Czech Republic in just 70 minutes, Croatia has secured a place among the world's top eight teams, and the players gave coach Svetlana Ilić a birthday gift.
Croatia's U17 women's volleyball team has advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Championship being held in Chile. The 3:0 win over Czech Republic was the best birthday gift for coach Svetlana Ilić, and they achieved the victory in just 70 minutes of play, showcasing clean, dominant, and authoritative volleyball.
The Croatian volleyball players took a 3:0 lead in the first set and immediately showed who was in charge on the court. They allowed the Czechs only two ties, the last at 5:5. With controlled play, maintaining a constant lead of 3-4 points, they reached the end of the first set and won it 25:21.
The second set was almost identical, except for the Czechs' initial leads of 1:0 and 2:1, with their last tie at 6:6. Then came a strong Croatian surge, first to 12:6 and then to 16:7. They only stopped one point before the end, at 24:16, allowing the Czechs a 5-0 run that softened the defeat.
They opened the third set with a 2:0 lead and continued to extend it, not allowing their opponents even a single tie. Particularly impressive was the run from 18:12 to 22:12, when the match was practically decided. That set ultimately ended 25:19.
The Croatian girls particularly excelled in attack points (44-26) and serving, which is usually their strong weapon (8-3), while the Czechs were better at blocking (9-4) and made fewer errors (19-23).
As usual, Erin Ivezić was the most successful with 23 points (1 ace), Lana Drviš contributed 11 (3 aces, 2 blocks), Emilie Stojić 10, Petra Došen 5 (1 ace and 1 block), Lucija Meštrović 4 (2 aces, 1 block), and Karla Gulin 3 (1 ace). In addition, libero Marta Novačić did an excellent job in this match, while the other players did not enter the game today.
Coach Ceca Ilić experienced this match very emotionally, saying at the end: "I think we said everything on the court today. We fully deserved the victory, into which we invested every last ounce of strength. This team truly deserves to advance among the top eight national teams in the world because they made even impossible things possible. Congratulations to everyone on the relentless fight, to the staff for a well-prepared match, and to our loyal fans who have been cheering us on all this time; we truly feel their support. We want to continue making them happy and proud."
In the quarterfinal match, Croatia will face China, who defeated the Dominican Republic 3:1. The match is scheduled for tonight at 8 PM Croatian time.
