Novi Sad, Serbia, April 18, 2014.  Crvena Zvezda BEOGRAD became the men’s volleyball champion of Serbia for the third time in a row and the tenth time overall in history, including the five titles of the former Yugoslavia.  The 2014 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup quarterfinalist won the championship series with Vojvodina NS Seme NOVI SAD with three victories to one to claim the title and is entitled to fill Serbia’s vacancy in the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League.

Crvena Zvezda went through the regular season of the Wiener Städtische Liga with a 17-1 win-loss record to top the standings before the playoffs and then went unbeaten through the best-of-three quarterfinal and the best-of-five semifinal series to face Vojvodina in the final.

The team from Novi Sad came in third from the regular season with a 12-6 win-loss record, but in a dramatic semifinal playoff managed to upset the second-seeded Partizan Vizura BEOGRAD with three victories to two and spoil the expectations for an edition of Serbia’s ‘eternal derby’ in the final.

Having lost the first match of the championship series in Belgrade by 0:3 (20-25, 21-25, 21-25), Vojvodina shocked the capital powerhouse with a 3:0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-23) in the second, also in Belgrade.

With the final playoff moving to Novi Sad, Crvena Zvezda returned to its rhythm with a 3:0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-20) victory in the third match.  The 1000 spectators at the Vojvodina competition hall saw their team take a 1:0 lead in the fourth encounter only to get disappointed in the following three sets – 1:3 (25-22, 14-25, 20-25, 20-25).

For its first place in the league, along with the champion’s cup and the gold medals, Crvena Zvezda also received a check for RSD 1,160,000 (EUR 10,000).