Samokov, Bulgaria, July 11, 2015 - Puerto Rico defeated Croatia 3-1 (25-23, 25-16, 23-25, 25-17) in the first ever encounter between the two teams.
First set started well for Croatia who went into an 8-5 advantage with both teams playing nervous and making many mistakes. Puerto Rico tied the score at 12-12 and took a two point advantage at the second technical timeout. Croatia fighted back and levelled the scores up at 21-21 before going into a 24-23 lead on a spike by Nikolina Jelic and eventually taking the set 25-23.
Set two saw a good start from Puerto Rico who took an early lead 4-1. Croatian erased the margin at 9-9, but were not able to put more pressure on the oppostion. Puerto Rico were constantly building their advantage to 16-11 and finally closed out the set at 25-16.
In the third set Puerto Rico got an early three point advantage and managed to keep it until the late stage when Croatia tied the score at 20-20. Both teams traded then the points, but it was Team Puerto Rico who kept their nerves calm winnig two points in a row to finish off the set 25-23. In the fourth set Puerto Rico dominated from the beginning and close it out easily 25-17.
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