| Germans cruise past Croatia in three | |
Matsumoto, Japan, November 2, 2010 – Germany overcame Croatia with a straight-sets victory (26-24, 25-18, 25-21) in Group C at the World Championship in Matsumoto on Tuesday. Germany improved to 3-1, while Croatia dropped to 1-3. Margareta Kozuch carried most of the offensive load of Germany registering 19 points including one block and two serving aces. Senna Usic and Jelena Alajbeg charted 15 and 11 respectively for Croatia. The Germans had the advantage in blocks (8-4) and also dominated from the service line producing 8 aces against four from their opponennts. Croatia caught Germany by surprise with some slick play at the start of the match, picking up the first four points and forcing German coach Giovanni Guidetti to call a timeout with the score at 2-6. Spikes by Margareta Kozuch and Maren Brinker helped Germany get back into the game and they were level at 8-8. A few sloppy mistakes allowed Germany to creep ahead and Croatia coach Miroslav Aksentijevic had to call his players off court. Back came the Croats with four straight points – including a good block by Senna Usic Jogunica on Corina Ssuschke and a receiving error by Brinker – before Germany responded in kind. A massive thump by Usic Jogunica gave Croatia a one-point lead at the first technical timeout, but two gargantuan blows by Kozuch evened the score at 17. The scores were level again at 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 when Kozuch blasted a spike through the Croatian defense. At setpoint, Kathleen Weiss sent her serve into the center of the Croatian side of the net and Usic Jogunica and Mirela Bares failed to deal with it, handing the first set to the Germans. Weiss was back in the action at the start of the second set when the 171-cm setter put the block on Ana Grbac to start a four-point run for the Germans. After Aksentijevic called a timeout, Croatia settled down, but they were still three points back at the first TTO. The Croatian coach called another timeout as his side fell to 5-10, but things went from bad to worse for his side. Bares was responsible for two more receiving errors, while big server Jelena Alajbeg was penalised for a foot fault. Aksenijevic then called another timeout before realising he didn't have any left. A terrific block by Ssuschke on Usic Jogunica gave the Germans a nine-point lead at the second TTO. The Croatians rediscovered some of their form, but they were still making too many errors to be able to close the gap. An error at the net by Mirela Delic brought up setpoint and Kathy Radzuweit – the tallest player in Group C at 196 cm – finished things off with an unreturnable hit. Croatia held the Germans to 6-6 at the start of the third set, but fell four points back at 11-7. Alajbeg came up with two trademark thumps to keep Croatia close, but Germany still had a three-point cushion at the second TTO. The Germans were six points ahead at 23-17, but went off the boil and coach Giovanni Guidetti was forced to call a timeout on matchpoint as the gap was reduced to three. Brinker then slammed down a final spike to end the match. |
