01/04/2021 09:52
Montenegro’s OK GALEB celebrate fifth national cup triumph in six years
News from the National Federations
Podgorica/Bar, Montenegro, April 1, 2021. OK GALEB emerged on Tuesday as the eventual winners of the women’s national cup of Montenegro as Nikola Masoničić’s team defeated their main rivals Luka BAR 3-1 (25-13, 25-22, 17-25, 25-18) in the final held in Bar. This way, OK GALEB secured their sixth title in the competition, and they are now only one triumph short of the all-time record held by Luka BAR.
“I am satisfied with this victory. We played a good match, especially for the first two sets. In those sets, Luka BAR looked quite nervous and insecure, since they were missing their best player, Melisa Cenović. On the other hand, our quality dropped a little bit in the third set, where we started to feel nervous, probably scared of winning, but we managed to get back control of the game at the beginning and halfway through the fourth set. In the end, I think that our victory is a well-deserved one. I am satisfied with the performance we delivered and especially with the attitude shown by my players throughout the season, both in training and during competitive matches. I think this title is a nice reward for everyone,” said GALEB coach Nikola Masoničić.
Following their latest triumph, OK GALEB boost a record of five national cup titles from the last six editions of the competition
GALEB started strong, slowly but surely extending their lead in the first set, while Luka BAR were obviously suffering in reception because of the absence of their star player, Melisa Cenović. It looked like history would repeat itself in the second set, where OK GALEB claimed an early 5-1 advantage. Luka BAR managed to reduce their deficit to 14-12 but at this very moment, with Simona Petranović standing behind the service line, OK GALEB moved the score to 20-14. Luka BAR put up a fight (24-22), but OK GALEB managed to claim the second set as well and to double their lead in the match. The third set was a completely different story, with Luka BAR playing superbly to lead from start to end towards a comprehensive 25-17 win. The course of the game changed again in the fourth set, where OK GALEB could stand the pressure and eventually celebrated their fifth national cup triumph over the last six years.
“First of all, I would like to congratulate the Galeb team. We did not play as we planned to do, and it was obvious that we were missing our main receiver, libero Melisa Cenović, who, unfortunately, is dealing with an injury. We will be fighting in the playoffs for the national league title,” said Dijana Vuković, who top scored for Luka BAR with 23 points in their losing effort.
The President of the Volleyball Federation of Montenegro (OSCG), Cvetko Pajković, presented the trophy to the players of OK GALEB. Nenad Vujanović, a member of the OSCG Management Board, and Igor Vušurović, OSCG Development Manager and Olympic gold medallist in 2000, were responsible for awarding the winners and losers of the final with the gold and silver medals, respectively.
MVP Nevena Vukčević awarded by Team Montenegro captain Tatjana Bokan
Nevena Vukčević received the award for the MVP of the final after scoring 32 points. Tatjana Bokan, the captain of the women’s Volleyball national team of Montenegro, had the honour of presenting this accolade to the star player of OK GALEB. “It was a great match, we played very well for most of the time and in the end we deservedly celebrated a victory. I am very happy and I congratulate my teammates on this achievement,” Vukčević said.
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