Germany suffered its first defeat in the preliminary round at the Volleyball World Cup. In Ancona, the team around diagonal player Georg Grozer lost 1: 3 (22:25, 25:20, 22:25, 19:25) against Serbia on Tuesday (September 5th, 2023).
This means that Germany is third in Group A and will face tough opponents from Group C – the Netherlands or Poland. In the last group game on Wednesday (September 6th, 2023) the Germans are still fighting for points in the world rankings against hosts and world champions Italy.
Serving problems and mistakes
In the game against Serbia, both teams started strong on the offensive. Grozer tried again and again to set the tone with hard punches. The serve was decisive in the end: Germany made too many mistakes, the Serbs created a lot of pressure. Referee Zsolt Mezöffy awarded the decisive point for the Serbs. After a dispute between Grozer and Aleksandar Atanasijevic, the referee gave both of them a red card, which meant one point each for the opposing team.
In the second round, the Serbs were initially clearly ahead, but then the Germans found their game in block and serve. The German team missed the start of the third set as well, but fought back. But a strong serve series by Atanasijevic brought the Serbs the set win. The team carried the momentum into the fourth round. The service problems and too many slight mistakes came back for the Germans.
