19/07/2015 21:58
Another perfect weekend for Slovenia’s men in European League
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Maribor, Slovenia, July 19, 2015. Slovenia men’s national team had another great weekend in the second round of play in Pool B of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League, claiming both of their matches against Croatia in Maribor and taking another six points for a perfect 4-0 record so far in the competition. On Sunday Slovenia delighted their fans in Maribor with yet another straight set win (25-22, 25-23, 26-24) over their neighbours from Croatia.
The start of the second match between Slovenia and Croatia was exactly the opposite than what the fans had witnessed on Saturday. Croatia took an early control of the game when Ivan Raic was standing behind the service line, making it 5:2 in their favour. The visitors widened their advantage even more to 8:4 and got another point right after the first technical time-out. The Slovenian team had some problems in reception when Fran Peterlin and Mario Mocic, who marshalled the Croatian game instead of Tsimafei Zhukouski, were serving and also made three mistakes by touching the net. But after the second technical time-out where the home guys trailed 11:16, the Slovenians started coming closer with some good attacks. Mitja Gasparini took a lot of responsibility in his hands to take his team even closer at 15:16 with three consecutive points. The home team finally equalised at 18 all and got to the front for the first time at 20:19. Dejan Vincic and Danijel Koncilja showed some beautiful combinations for the 23:21 and Slovenia closed the set at 25-22 with another ace by their superstar Mitja Gasparini.
The beginning of the second set was a remake of the first one. Slovenia took the first point, but then the Croatians immediately created a gap of four points (6:2) and preserved the lead thru to the first technical time-out (8:4). Slovenia’s mentor Andrea Giani had to take his first break by the score of 5:10 and another one as his side trailed 6:13, since the Croatian setter Mocic was distributing good balls to Raic, Peterlin and Marko Sedlacek. Finally the Slovenians came back again – as they had done in the previous set – with great defence and counter attacks and with Uros Pavlovic and Jan Klobucar joining Slovenia’s line-up to bring some fresh energy. Croatian mentor Igor Simuncic tried to stop the rush of the home team with substitutions and a time-out, but the Slovenians still managed to level the score at 18 all and after that got to the front by one point. In the exciting ending of the set Alen Pajenk claimed the first set ball for the home team and Vincic was the one who cashed it after a second time-out for the Croatian side (25-23).
The third set started in a more promising way for the home side, although teams traded points up to the first technical time-out (8:7). Giani’s players moved ahead at 11:8 and Simuncic tried to change the course of the match with a time-out and a substitution whereby Filip Sestan replaced Sedlacek at 14:11, but his team still couldn’t reduce the gap to less than three points. Giani stopped the game as his side’s lead was cut down to one point at 18:17, but the visitors levelled the score at 18:18. They stamped a block to even the score yet again at 19 all and recovered with three consecutive points, one by Ivan Mihalj’s block to cruise to a 21:23 lead. Mocic went to serve on a Croatian set ball but Klemen Cebulj and Pajenk levelled the score making it 24:24. After that, Vincic contributed a first set point for Slovenia and Pajenk brought the match to an end at 26-24.
Dejan Vincic, Slovenia’s setter, said: “I can say this was a good training for our mental stability. We were not determined enough at the beginning of the first and second sets. The Croatians broke away by four or five points and we needed the whole set to close the gap. Still, we remained focussed, played according to our game plan and what is the most important, in the end we won by 3:0.”
Andrea Giani, Slovenia’s mentor: “We didn’t start the first and the second sets of the match as we should have. We had some problems with our side-out, but we managed to correct our game in that element. We also started to play better in defence and our counter attacks worked fine too. Our players were also very successful with their attacks after entering the money time and that was what eventually took us to another victory.”
Click here for more info including detailed stats of the match
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