The German volleyball players suffered their first defeat in the fourth group game at the European Championships. The team of national coach Michal Winiarski lost in the Italian Ancona favorite Serbia with 1:3 (22:25, 25:20, 22:25, 18:25).
Diagonal attacker Georg Grozer was again the best scorer of the German team with 22 points, the early round of 16 was already certain before the game.
The defeat is now also certain that the selection of the German Volleyball Association will end Group A in third place and will therefore meet the second in Group C in the knockout round.
Germany has eight points, Serbia and world and European champions Italy, against whom the DVV men have to play to finish the group on Wednesday (9:00 p.m. / Sportdeutschland.TV), are uncatchable with twelve points.
Too many serve errors
After the 3-2 comeback win against neighboring Belgium on Sunday, the German selection started with a lot of tailwind, but initially made too many serve mistakes. The Serbs took the first set and started the second better too.
After a time-out when the score was 2:6, Winiarski’s team improved, took the lead (11:10) – and suddenly everything was going well. Serve, block, grozer. The veteran converted the first set ball to compensate. “Both teams are at their limit,” said assistant coach Thomas Ranner during the break.
The third round was similar to the first – and also the result. After that the air was gone.
The tournament will be played in Italy, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Israel. Every victory is important in terms of the world rankings and the associated Olympic tickets for Paris 2024.