Novi Sad, Serbia, June 12, 2015 - Aleksandar Atanasijevic scored 20 points to lead his side to a comeback Pool A win over leaders Brazil who despite Wallace De Souza's 24 points, were defeated despite taking a 2-0 lead in the game.
Serbia were looking to stop the momentum of Brazil who came into this Pool A clash undefeated. The first set was a cagey affair with Brazil and Serbia trading off but the South American side began to take a grip on the tie to go 10-8 in front. Serbia were fighting to stay in the set as Brazil opened up a five point gap with Wallace De Souza looking in inspired spiking form to lead 19-14. Brazil rounded out the first set 25-22 to take a 1-0 lead in the tie.
The second set was just as tight as the first with Serbia clinging onto the coat tails of Brazil who had De Souza to thank for his continued presence at the net as he led the Brazilians in scoring. Serbia were again making errors as Brazil opened up a 22-19 lead as it got to the business end of the set. Serbia served to stay in the second period but were thwarted in their attempt to level the tie as Brazil took it 25-23 to take a 2-0 lead.
Brazil were looking to continue their 100% record at the top of the table and were hoping to wrap up a routine 3-0 victory but as in the first two sets, their was little to seperate to two sides as Serbia were roard on by a partisan crowd. This time it was Serbia that edged in front thanks to Aleksandar Atanasijevic who was dragging his side back into the tie and they took the game to a fourth set with a 25-23 win.
Serbia were now right back in the tie and continued to assert pressure on Brazil who were looking anything but league leaders. Another tight set saw it go down to the wire with Serbia edging in front in the crucial final phase to take the tie into a deciding fifth set with a 25-21 win to level at 2-2.
The final tie-breaking set matched the previous four sets with little to split the sides as they traded points as we entered the final stage in the race to 15 points. It was Serbia that had first crack taking a 12-10 lead and they held on to take a 15-13 final set victory and a 3-2 win to break Brazil's 100% winning record.
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