The Russian women's national team lost their second friendly match against Serbia with a score of 2:3 (23:25, 25:23, 25:20, 16:25, 6:15), after leading 2:1 in sets. These are the only international tests for the Russian team before their anticipated return to the Nations League next season. The match was played in front of a crowd in the Serbian city of Ub. In the first friendly, which was played in Belgrade, the match ended 2:2 (30:28, 19:25, 25:21, 18:25).
Russia was not at full strength. Arina Fedorovtseva missed the matches by prior agreement with the federation, Elizaveta Fitisova is injured, and the Dynamo (Moscow) players were not called up after an agreement between the club and the federation due to Valeria Shevchuk's severe injury last summer.

In contrast, Serbia relied on almost all of its stars, including Maja Ognjenović and Tijana Bošković.
In the first three sets, the Russians dominated primarily in blocking, limiting the hosts' attack. Marina Markova, Tatiana Tolok, and Irina Voronkova led the team, and Polina Matveeva gradually found a better rhythm in setting.
After the third set, however, the picture changed. Serbia made successful substitutions, and reserve setter Slađana Mirković brought more variety to the game. The Russians faced serious difficulties in reception, lost their first tempo, and had no scoring blocks in the last two sets. In the tie-break, the hosts converted 10 out of 11 attacks and achieved a complete comeback.
"We played a very good match, but we ran out of strength. We only gathered a week ago and are not yet ready for such matches," commented coach Konstantin Ushakov after the match.

The two friendly matches showed that Russia has a powerful attack, but still has serious problems in reception and defense – elements that the coaching staff will have to work on before the team's eventual return to official international tournaments.

photos: Nikolay Varadinov