Players of Serbia celebrate during the awarding ceremony after the final match against Italy at the 2018 Volleyball Women's World Championship in Yokohama, Japan, Oct. 20, 2018. Serbia won 3-2 to claim the title. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi)
YOKOHAMA, Japan, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Serbia claimed the title for the first time in history at the Volleyball Women's World Championship after edging Italy 3-2 here Saturday, while China hammered the Netherlands in straight sets to get a bronze.
The game on Saturday was the second encounter between Serbia and Italy in the tournament this year, with Serbia beating Italy 3-1 in the previous match.
But it was Italy that took the initiative in Saturday's game and led 13-10 on a spike by star blocker Paola Egonu in the opening set. Serbia managed to level at 18-18, but Italy, apparently on fire, got the set point first and settled home 25-21.
Serbia came back in the second set and entered the first technical timeout leading 8-6. Despite Italy's efforts, Serbia further enlarged the margin to take the set 25-14.
The two sides each won one of the following two sets, bringing the game to a tiebreaker. The fifth set was a see-saw one, with the two sides trading leads before Serbia closed out 15-12.
Paola Egonu scored a match-high 33 points, confirming her place as top scorer of the tournament with a total of 324 points. Tijana Boskovic scored 26 points to lead Serbia.
It was the first time for Serbia, ranked third in the world, to win the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship.
In an earlier game here, China defeated the Netherlands in straight sets to claim the bronze. The match finished with a scoreline of 25-22, 25-19, 25-14.
"It has been a long journey and it finally ended. I want to thank the fans, the organizers of the tournament and the staff working here, thank you all," said China coach Lang Ping after the match.
"We have achieved a lot here and the biggest gain was that by playing against strong teams, we gathered experiences. We could also feel the development of the world's volleyball level," she added.
China won two titles at the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in 1982 and 1986 respectively. It was the first time that the Chinese team won a bronze medal at the tournament that was held every four years.
