A little after the Poles in Gdańsk defeated the reigning champion France after five sets and a total of 227 points played, in Ljubljana, after two hours and five minutes of fantastic volleyball, the last dilemma regarding the participants of the final tournament in China was resolved.
This will still be Slovenia, although "indifferent" Serbia had a match point in the dramatic tie-break. In the end - 21:25, 25:23, 25:23, 18:25, 15:17, with the final loss in this edition of the FIVB World League borne by the Iranian team, which finished the group stage in eighth place.
1. Team statistics:
| Category | Serbia 🇷🇸 | Slovenia 🇸🇮 |
|---|---|---|
| Attack | 63 | 65 |
| Block | 7 | 10 |
| Serve | 6 | 4 |
| Points from opponent's errors | 28 | 34 |
| Total points | 104 | 113 |
Serbia was more effective in serves and attack seemed balanced, but Slovenia prevailed in blocking and capitalized on more opponent errors. These 6 additional points from errors proved decisive in a close match with a minimal difference.
2. Key elements:
| Category | Serbia 🇷🇸 | Slovenia 🇸🇮 |
|---|---|---|
| Digs | 101 | 106 |
| Reception | 97 | 79 |
| Distributions | 149 | 140 |
It is interesting that Serbia had more distributions and receptions, but nevertheless could not materialize the advantage. Slovenia was more solid in defense, which allowed them to hold on in the critical rallies of the tie-break.
3. Top scorers:
| Player | Points |
|---|---|
| Brboric (SRB) | 17 |
| Ivovic (SRB) | 16 |
| Mujanovic (SLO) | 15 |
| Mozic (SLO) | 24 |
