When it mattered most, Dražen Luburić rose to the occasion.
Serbia leaned on its star attacker as it overcame China, 25-18, 25-19, 29-27, on Tuesday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, keeping its hopes alive in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship.
Luburić carried the load with 17 points, coming from 15 kills, a block, and an ace, bouncing back after Serbia’s shocking upset loss to Czechia just two days earlier.
“It was basically our last chance to secure a win and remain in contention. We still have a lot of work ahead against Brazil, and we’ll look for our opportunities since it’s our last game. Of course, it also depends on the match between Czech Republic and China,” Luburić said ahead of Thursday’s matchup with Brazil at 10:00 AM.
Serbia dominated the first two sets, but China refused to go quietly. They saved three match points in the third set, even taking the lead at 27-26 before Aleksandar Nedeljković tied it up.
Pavle Perić closed the set with back-to-back points, finishing with 11, while Nedeljković also contributed 11.
Aleksandar Stefanović added eight more points to seal the victory.
“Well, we were basically just waiting for this moment to come. Team China is excellent — they showed it against Brazil in the first round — but we also know our own qualities and the effort we’ve put in this summer. We just needed the results to reflect that,” Luburić added.
China leaned on outside hitter Wang Bin, who tallied 16 points, but the defeat left the team winless in Pool H at 0-2.
China will next face Czechia on Thursday at 9:00 PM.
#WATCH: Serbia’s Drazen Luburić vs China: We’re well-rested and we know what we can do 🏐🇷🇸
📹 Aeron Valderrama/Tiebreaker Times#MWCH2025 pic.twitter.com/6eNc5ecCCh
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) September 16, 2025
