Serbia vs Netherlands, China vs Italy in semifinals

NAGOYA, Japan, October 16, 2018 - Italy suffered their first defeat in the competition after falling to Serbia 3-1 (25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 25-23) and China downed the Netherlands 3-1 (23-25, 25-13, 25-18, 25-17), as the semifinals of the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship were set.

Next Friday, Serbia will play The Netherlands while China will play Italy in the semifinals. USA and Japan will battle for fifth place.

Powered once again by Tijana Boskovic who scored 29 points, Serbia put an end to Italy's 10-match winning streak at this World Championship to top Pool G of Round 3.

Milena Rasic had 15 points in the victory, with Stefana Veljkovic adding 10. Paola Egonu was the highest scorer for Italy with 28 points in the loss.

Italy entered the match with a 10-0 record, while Serbia was 8-2. The contest was highlighted by quick attacks from both teams and featured few rallies of note.

Rio 2016 Olympic champions China, meanwhile, came back from a set down to defeat the Netherlands in four sets, with Zhu Ting scoring 19 points and Yuan Xinyue adding 16 to cancel out Lonneke Slotejes' match-high 26. The result means China top Pool H.

The top six teams rest for the next two days, as they travel to Yokohama for the remaining five matches in the tournament. The semifinals will be played on Friday, as will the 5th-place playoff between Japan and USA.