A great Belgium was outplayed by an out-of-this-world Serbia in a spectacular three-setter at Antwerp’s Lotto Arena on Wednesday. Masterfully led by setter Nikola Jovovic, the Serbs claimed their fourth win of the tournament and secured the top spot in the pool’s final standings a day before their last pool match with Austria. The host finished on a 4-1 win-loss record in second place.

With some fantastic actions on both sides of the net, Serbia’s spikers were way more productive in the first set and gave the Balkan team a 25-19 advantage. The situation did not change much in the second set, although Belgium managed to take a momentary two-point lead at 13-11. Well conducted by setter Nikola Jovovic, the Serbs quickly regained control and shot forward to a 25-21 close. With several changes in the starting line-up for the third set, Belgium maintained an early lead for some time, but Serbia quickly adjusted to turn things around to a 25-19 win, with eight points by high-flying Aleksandar Atanasijevic alone in the set.

Atanasijevic became the best scorer of the match, with a total of 18 points to his name. Captain Sam Deroo led the Belgian scorers with 13 points.