Brazil. Serbia suffered its first loss in this year's edition of the Volleyball Nations League. The "Plavi" lost to host Brazil by0:3 (22:25, 18:25, 22:25)in a match from the first week of the tournament, played in the capital, Brasília.
In front of their home crowd, the "Seleção" left no doubt who was the better team on the court and controlled the course of the match for most of the time. The Serbs offered more serious resistance only in the first and third sets, but in both cases, they only managed to reach 22 points.
The Brazilians outperformed their opponent in all key elements. They scored 36 points in attack against 31 for Serbia, recorded 9 successful blocks against 8, and benefited from significantly more opponent errors – 28 against 21. Both teams finished with 2 aces each.
In defense, the Serbs had a slight advantage with 40 digs against 39 for the hosts, and were also more effective in reception (56 against 45) and setting (76 against 67). Nevertheless, better attack efficiency and fewer own errors decisively tipped the scales in favor of Brazil.
The top scorer for Brazil was Judson with 13 points, followed by Darlan with 10. For Serbia, the leader was Brboric with 11 points, and Peric added 8.
After the defeat, our western neighbors lost valuable points for the world ranking list and dropped two positions, temporarily occupying 12th place in the standings.
Serbia's last match in the tournament in Brazil is against Bulgaria tomorrow. Brazil faces Argentina in a continental derby.

photo: Nikolay Varadinov