Croatia exit the European Championship in the round of 16 as Serbia win 3-1

Croatia’s women’s volleyball team led after the opening set in Brno, but Serbia recovered to win 3-1 and end Croatia’s European Championship campaign in the round of 16.

Croatia started strongly after falling 4-7 behind. A 10-2 run put the team 14-9 ahead, and Croatia held that advantage to win the first set 25-19 as Serbia struggled to settle.

Croatia again led early in the second set, moving from 8-5 down to a 11-8 advantage. A disputed sequence at 13-10 proved important. A point initially awarded to Croatia was overturned after a video review found a foot fault by Mika Grbavica, cutting Serbia’s deficit to 13-11. Serbia soon turned the set around and won it 25-19.

Croatia stayed level with Serbia only until 5-5 in the third set. Serbia then pulled away to win 25-17 and dominated the fourth set from the start, closing out the match 25-12.

Samanta Fabris and Mika Grbavica led Croatia with 15 points each. Aleksandra Uzelac and Tijana Bošković scored 18 apiece for Serbia, which will meet Greece in the quarterfinals after Greece beat France in straight sets.