Schedules

November 28: Serb&Mont - Brazil, Japan - France, USA - Italy, Venezuela - China, Tunisia - Canada, Korea - Egypt.
November 29: Serb&Mont - France, USA - Brazil, Japan - Italy, Venezuela - Canada, Tunisia - Egypt, Korja - China.
November 30: Serb&Mont - Italy, USA - France, Japan - Brazil, Venezuela - Egypt, Tunisia - China, Korea - Canada.

DAY 7: Serbia&Montenegro - Venezuela 3-0

Fukuoka, JAPAN, November 24, 2003 (fivb.ch) - Unbeaten Serbia and Montenegro made it a sweet seven victories at the World Cup when they resisted an aggressive onslaught from Venezuela to secure a 3-0 win at Site A in Fukuoka.

The Olympic champions had to work hard for their 25-23, 25-22, 25-18 victory, while Venezuela's experience and composure on the crucial points again let them down as they fell to their fifth defeat.

There was nothing subtle about the opening, as two teams blessed with power slugged it out for an edge. First Serbia and Montenegro took a two-point lead, only for the Venezuela to fight back for their own two-point advantage.

The turning point came when the Blue Boys were trailing 13-15. Ivan Milijkovic began to dominate from the flanks and Venezuela made a couple of errors as they lost five straight points to go 18-15 down. But the hitting of Thomas Ereu and captain Ernardo Gomez kept Venezuela alive and they fought back to 23-23, only for a Goran Vujevic spike and another error to hand the first set to the Balkan side.

The Europeans carried their momentum into the second and quickly opened a 9-5 lead, a spike and drop shot from Vladimir Grbic helping them on their way. Venezuela fought back to 15-15 thanks to some good work by Ivan Marquez off the quick setting of Rodman Valera, and they stayed in touch until 21-21 when three more errors and a spike from Milijkovic cost them the second set.

At 17-9 down in the third Venezuela looked dead and buried. But a powerful series of Gomez serves inspired a mini come-back only for Serbia and Montenegro to weather the storm and claim their seventh win.

DAY 6: Serbia&Montenegro - Korea 3-0

Fukuoka, JAPAN, November 23, 2003 (fivb.ch) - Olympic champions Serbia and Montenegro remain undefeated in the World Cup after they negotiated a potentially awkward match against Korea with a straight sets win at Site A in Fukuoka.

The Europeans continued their march towards Athens with a 27-25, 25-20, 26-24 win, their sixth from six games, while Korea's chances of qualifying for the Olympics from this tournament were severely dented after suffering what was their third loss.

There was a sense of the two sides measuring up each other at the start as they tentatively reached 9-9. Then the powerful hitting of Ivan Milijkovic and the returning Vladimir Grbic threatened to swamp the Asians.

Yet the resilience of the Korean defense enabled them to claw their way back to 23-23 with a spike from Yoon Kwan-Yeol. But the Balkan side were not to be denied and, despite Korea saving two sets points, they moved a game ahead thanks to another powerful hit from Milijkovic.

The second set produced a number of exciting rallies as Korea struggled to find a way past the effective block of their opponents. Again, it was a case of Korean defense against the European's powerful offense and again the Asians came out second best. Milijkovic continued to rain down his bombs from the accurate setting of Nikola Grbic, while Igor Vusurovic made a number of crucial blocks as his team opened a two-set lead.

Still the Koreans battled on and fought tooth and nail for every point. But Serbia and Montenegro always appeared to have the edge as they secured the victory on their second match point.

DAY 5: Serbia&Montenegro - Japan 3-1

Tokyo, JAPAN, November 21, 2003 (fivb.ch) - A sleepy Serbia and Montenegro side were given yet another wake up call on Friday, dropping the first set before powering past a brave Japanese side to complete Round Two of the 2003 Men's World Cup in the Hiroshima Green Arena.

In a match that would prove a true test of Japan's character the hosts looked as though they had really met their match when the towering Serbia and Montenegro lineup efficiently opened a 4-1 lead in the first set but on the back of some more animated local support Japan clawed their way back with the tournament's top scorer Takahiro Yamamoto striking with his powerful left arm to put them in front at 12-11. A Nikola Grbic serve into the net and Japan were ahead by 22-19 so it was left to skipper Yoichi Kato to smash down the middle for his eighth point to seal the first set.

Japan crept ahead again at the start of the second set as the faces of the Blue Team became increasingly anxious and despite an improvement in serve on the part of the Olympic champions, Japanese libero Katsutoshi Tsumagari led the way in taking the venom out of the power of Grbic and co. It wasn't until Ivan Miljkovic fired down two smashes that Serbia and Montenegro were substantially ahead at 20-17, and MIP Andrea Geric finished the second set proceedings with a block.

A dramatic increase in intensity on the part of the favourites was evident at the start of the third set. There was no holding back as Miljkovic and Geric started raining down spike after spike and the Europeans started finding the holes to open a three point lead midway through the set. The power of Miljkovic in particular was too much for the Japanese and although they managed to complete their plays, there was no surprise when Goran Vujevic spiked into Nobuyoshi Hosokawa and out of court for the final point of the set.

The fourth set started with Japan keeping their noses in front at 14-11 but it wasn't long before incredibly blocking from Geric took the Olympic champs to their fifth victory of the tournament.

DAY 4: Serbia&Montenegro - Canada 3-1

Tokyo, JAPAN, November 20, 2003 (fivb.ch) - Olympic champions Serbia and Montenegro maintained their unbeaten record as they collected their fourth win of the 2003 Men's World Cup in a four set victory over Canada in the opening match of Round Two in the Hiroshima Green Arena on Thursday.

The Blue Team looked like they meant business straight from the opening whistle when they opened up a 7-0 lead and continued in much the same fashion throughout the rest of the set with Andrija Geric making a big nuisance of himself on the block, Ivan Miljkovic attacking from outside and captain and setter Nikola Grbic. MIP Igor Vusurovic's final spike put an end to the set and Canada's misery.

But once again Serbia and Montenegro lapsed into complacency and Canada's great fighting spirit, which was so evident in their last match against Japan, returned in the second set for the underdogs to hold a 15-13 lead.

Coach Ljubomir Travica introduced Bojan Janic for only the second time in the tournament but this still couldn't halt Canada's rising confidence. However, with Canada ahead 21-20, miscommunication between Chris Wolfenden and Ross Ballard saw a dig go into empty space and the favourites looked as though they had received a life line when Ballard miss set to put them ahead 22-20. But Canada dug deep and Ballard made up for his earlier mistake when his serve was too powerful for libero Vasa Mijic to give Canada the second set.

Order was generally restored in the third set with Serbia and Montenegro claiming it 25-23, but not without a fight. It took the experienced Ivan Miljkovic to seal it with yet another spike for his 14th point before Canada still pushed hard in the fourth until two mistakes from captain Scott Koskie while setting handed the match to the Europeans.

DAY 3: Serbia&Montenegro - Egypt 3-1

Tokyo, JAPAN, November 18, 2003 (fivb.ch) - Egypt, under former Serbia and Montenegro coach Veselin Vukovic, gave the Sydney Olympic champions a reminder of how tough the 2003 World Cup is before losing a fascinating four-set encounter in the second match on day three in the Yoyogi Stadium, Tokyo on Tuesday.

It was Serbia and Montenegro's third win from three matches but not without a scare.

The favourites, who were again missing the unwell Vladimir Grbic, got off to a 5-0 lead before Egypt tied the match up at 7-7. An inspirational block from Mohamed Shehata and some pin point spiking from captain Elsafy Awad, saw Egypt take the lead at 18-17 and hold it until a Novica Bjelica block put Serbia and Montenegro ahead 25-24. Everyone expected the eventual kill to come but Egypt held on and the despair on Andrija Geric's face was for all to see. An excellent Elsafy Awad serve gave Egypt the lead at 29-28 before they got the break they deserved when Mohamed Awad's dig from Ivan Mijlkovic's spike fell into empty enemy territory much to the delight of the crowd.

This looked a minor set back for Serbia and Montenegro as they soon opened an 8-4 lead in the second set and it wasn't long before Mijlkovic got into his stride on attack and they went further ahead 19-12 before the sealing the set 25-18.

But Egypt weren't finished as they pushed their more fancied opponents again taking an 8-6 lead early in the third. But at 14-11 Serbia and Montenegro kicked into gear as Miljkovic tied up the game at 16-16 before going on to take the set 25-21.

Serbia and Montenegro's momentum continued as they wrapped up the final set with ease.

DAY 2: Serbia&Montenegro - USA 3-0

Tokyo, JAPAN, November 17, 2003 (fivb.ch) - Sydney Olympic champions Serbia and Montenegro were given a tough workout before dismissing the USA in straight sets 26-24, 25-21, 25-22 in the Yoyogi Stadium to remain unbeaten on day two of the 2003 Men's World Cup in Tokyo, Japan.

Following their 3-0 win over China on day one coach Travica Ljubonir introduced Slobodan Boskan for the first time in the tournament in place of the unwell Vladimir Grbic and immediately Serbia and Montenegro went on the back foot.

USA jumped to an early lead to suggest that they might repeat their defeat of the Balkan team as the one at the end of 2002. But thanks to some superb blocking from Andrija Geric, spiking from Ivan Miljkovic and a great confidence-building play from captain, setter and MIP Nikola Grbic, Serbia and Montenegro held off the great play from Lloy Ball and his team mates to win in straight sets.

DAY 1: Serbia&Montenegro - China 3-0

Tokyo, JAPAN, November 16, 2003 (fivb.ch) - Serbia and Montenegro, the 2000 Olympic champions, opened their 2003 Men's World Cup campaign with a convincing straight sets victory over Asian Continental vice-champions China in the inspiring Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo, Japan.

Right from the opening whistle the immense power of the Europeans was evident and proved too much for China with the likes of 203cm Andrija Geric and 206cm Ivan Milkovic hammering their opponents with some sensational spiking.

It didn't take long for Serbia and Montenegro, wild cards for this event, to wrap up the first set 25-16 before the artistry of captain Nikola Grbic really came to the fore with some great touches in his role as setter to lead Serbia and Montenegro to a second set win by the same margin.

The third set followed much the same pattern with China, despite fighting back to one point, finding the Balkan team just too strong and efficient in attack and too well organized in defence. To witness Serbia and Montenegro use all their attacking options to such great effect was a joy to watch and they eventually wrapped up the set and the match 26-24.

Chinese coach Di Anhe will have a bit of work to do to try and keep his side confident, especially ahead of Monday's match against USA, while Serbia and Montenegroen coach Travica Ljubomir can be well pleased with his side's performance as they got a good workout and launched their campaign in the perfect fashion.