Kastela, Croatia, April 23, 2014.  Mladost Marina KASTELA has become the 2014 men’s volleyball champion of Croatia.  It triumphed with its third consecutive title upon winning the crucial fifth match of the dramatic best-of-five championship series against HAOK Mladost ZAGREB.

Mladost Marina topped the final standings of the quadruple-round-robin regular season with an impressive 19-1 win-loss record and then went unbeaten through the quarterfinal and the semifinal series.

The club from Zagreb was placed second at the end of the regular season with 13 victories and 7 losses and also did not allow any surprises in the first two playoff rounds before reaching the final.

Despite shutting out their opponents in the first and the third matches of the championship series at home, the guys from Kastela could not convert on these victories away allowing HAOK to tie the series twice.  The fourth match played in Zagreb was particularly exciting and the home fans eventually rejoiced after a spectacular 3:2 (25-19, 23-25, 25-17, 23-25, 15-9) win for the team.

But the team from the capital only set itself up for another straight-set defeat in Kastela.  In the fantastic atmosphere created by the 1,500 fans in the competition hall for the decisive fifth game, Mladost Marina knocked out HAOK Mladost by 3:0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-19) to rejoice with the crown.

The team of Mirna ROVINJ ended up with the bronze.

Picture: Croatian Volleyball Organization President Zdeslav Barac presented the trophy and the medals to the winners