Middle-blocker Smith was a key part for the win for both captain Lee and coach Speraw
Lodz, Poland, September 11, 2014 - In what was a “huge win” according to David Lee, USA did some heavy damage from the service line. And as the captain, USA coach John Speraw also gave credit to reserve player David Smith.
USA captain David Lee: “It was a huge win for us in order to keep the chances to play in the third round as these 3 points opened our way there. The biggest reason of this victory was the fact that we out-served Serbia - also the addition of David Smith brought a lot to us. First set was really close, but then we kept our level and the serve was crucial in last two parts of the game.”
Serbia captain Dragan Stankovic: “We faced the same problem we have struggled with in the World League - we started really well and suddenly stopped playing. I don't understand what happened, why we played and acted like we did today. We've had no energy; we didn't believe that we could win. We lost 3 points and now we need to see how many chances we will have in the next games.”
USA coach John Speraw: “We knew how important this game was. We were concerned that we played very intense physically and emotionally at the game with Poland and we were not sure how much energy we could bring to a match in less than 24 hours. I'm happy how it went out; substitution of David Smith was a great addition to our game. He was one of the reasons of the victory.”
Serbia coach Igor Kolakovic: “USA have played a good match, while we stopped our game after the second set and lost the patience we've had before. I can't understand why we made so many mistakes on serve - USA made just two mistakes less, but they scored 10 aces while our results in this element were not good at all. With this loss we have complicated our situation, but now we need to motivate ourselves for the next games.”