LJUBLJANA – Ljubljana hosted the second MEVZA League tournament, where we watched a trio of Slovenian teams – home team ACH Volley Ljubljana, Merkur Maribor and Calcit Volley.
The home volleyball team ACH Volley Ljubljana recorded two new victories and remains the only undefeated team in the league, on the first place in the championship standings. They beat Calcit Volley 3-1 and Maribor 3-0. In the match between Merkur Maribor and Calcit Volley, the latter were the better team, winning 3-1.
Home team, ACH Volley Ljubljana, in this mini tournament won against Calcit Volley 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-19, 27-25). For Ljubljana that was second victory this season against Calcit.
Calcit played better in the first set and they managed to win it 23-25 but ACH Volley’s players made a great start in second set. Home team played much better and they managed to tie the score to 1-1.
In third set, Ljubljana’s players took off early and won that set convincingly. Fourth set was thrilling but when game was on the line, players from home team were impeccable.
“We expected a difficult match, as the opponent is a highly motivated and quality team from Kamnik. There were too many fluctuations in the team’s game, which we need to improve”, said coach of ACH Volley Ljubljana Radovan Ga?i?.
Calcit Volley volleyball players defeated Merkur Maribor 3-1 (18-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-22) in the second match of this MEVZA tourament in Ljubljana.
Calcit lost to home team ACH Volley in the first match of this tournament but managed to defeat team from Maribor.
Merkur Maribor opened the match better which resulted in them winning it 25-18. Calcit managed to shake off their bad start to the match and were able to win second set 25-19.
The third set started better for the Kamnik volleyballers, who took a four point lead which they managed to extend and win this set convincingly.
Forth set was more competitive, but Calcit again proved to be the better team in this match and were able to finish it in style.
“We started too sleepy, which of course disturbed me. After the loss, the boys rallied, started to play volleyball and the result says it. We pressed a little less with our serve than against ACH Volley, so we made ten fewer service errors, and as a result the Maribor players had better reception. In the end, they had 70%, but congratulations to the guys who got the win”, said Matija Pleško, coach of Calcit Volley.
“Of course we wanted to win, but goals are one thing and wishes are another. We played very well in the first set against a very good Calcit Volley, we were close in the last set, but we made one mistake too many”, said Sebastian Škorc, coach of Merkur Maribor.
In the last match of the tournament hosted by Ljubljana, we watched ACH Volley Ljubljana and Merkur Maribor play each other. The Ljubljana team justified their role as favourites and strolled to another victory, this time without dropping a set. Ljubljana won 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-18).
Opening set was interesting. Both teams were playing good. The Ljubljana players were getting better and better after each point, and they deservingly won it 25-23.
The second set started better for the guests from Maribor, who led by two points, but Ljubljana again started playing much better as the set was going on and they were getting good runs which resulted in them winning this set 25-16.
Third set was like the copy of previous set. Maribor started better but Ljubljana again managed to make good runs and win this set 25-15 and also win the match without dropping a set.
“We made our job easier today with a strong serve and prevented our opponent from playing. I am satisfied with the performance of the boys, who controlled the whole match and were a level better opponent. We have a great tournament behind us, with two more wins, which is a great start, first for the home championship match and then for the much-awaited Champions League showdown”, said ACH Volley Ljubljana coach Radovan Ga?i?.
