With Sunday’s victory, the Serbians, who went winless in the first two weeks of the Preliminary Phase and headed to Apeldoorn facing serious risk of relegation, get to finish the VNL 2025 in 15th place, with three victories and 14 points. Türkiye, which qualified for the Finals and will play for the VNL title from July 23-27 in Łódź, Poland, continue in fifth place (eight wins, 23 points), but could lose their spot to China (eight wins, 22 points).
Brought in to steer Serbia in the last week of the Preliminary Phase, star opposite and team captain Tijana Bošković got the job done again, leading her team’s victory with a match-high 21 points (18 kills, two blocks, one ace). Outside hitter Vanja Ivanović also had a productive shift, adding 15 points, with 12 kills, two blocks and one ace.
“I’m very happy and proud of how the team played this week,” Bošković said. “I think we improved every match and today we showed what we can do. In the first weeks, even if we lost all eight matches, I was proud of how the team fought. We have a young team with a lot of potential and I feel that we couldn’t have finished the VNL in a better way than we did today.”