11 clubs will compete in the men’s MEVZA in this year’s 2022/23 season – three from Croatia (Mladost, Ribola Kaštela and Mursa Osijek), three from Slovenia (ACH Volley Ljubljana, Calcit Kamnik and Merkur Maribor), two from Slovakia (Reiker UJS Komarno and TJ Spartak Myjava) and three from Austria (AICH Dob, Union Raiffeisen Waldviertel and VCA Amstetten).
The Union Raiffeisen Waldviertel started its MEVZA tournament against the 16-time Slovenian champions, 13-time Slovenian Cup winners, 11-time MEVZA winners and Champions League participants ACH Volley Ljubljana. In the MEVZA season 2019/20, the Union Raiffeisen Waldviertel competed against Calcit Volley Kamnik in the small final and brought the bronze medal to the Waldviertel.
“The focus of the Union Raiffeisen Waldviertel is on national competitions, but they also want to present themselves well in the MEVZA,” said Manager Werner Hahn before the game.
Accordingly, the team of Zdenek Smejkal entered the game quite in a quite motivated manner. Right in the beginning, it became clear that it would be necessary to take full risk against such a top team as ACH Volley Ljubljana. The Union Raiffeisen Waldviertel showed their audience that they were on a level playing field with the Slovenian team. The guest team continued to act calmly in defence and finished off the attacks with aplomb, so that coach Smejkal took a first time-out at 11:15. Tension arose again in the final of the set when the players of Union Raiffeisen Waldviertel, called “Nordmänner” reduced the score to 21:24. Reception problems on the side of the home team and a considerate volleyball game of the guests led to the better end for the Slovenians with 21:25.
In the 2nd set, the “Nordmänner” carried on fighting incessantly – Ljubljana had now entirely settled in the sports hall of Zwettl. Problems in our reception and consistent volleyball by the guests led to 9:15 for ACH Volley. The Union Raiffeisen Waldviertel fought for every point in the 2nd set, but had no chance against the “monster services” of ACH Volley – so that the set ended with 16:25.
Every service worked well for the guests, while the home team often failed at the net. The guests uncompromisingly hammered the balls into the opponents’ field. The players of Union Raiffeisen Waldviertel tried to fight back, but only with limited success. ACH Volley read the “Nordmänner’s” ideas and could react accordingly – so that finally, ACH Volley finished the set and the match with 17:25.
“We had some difficulties in the last weeks because 4-5 players were at the World Cup. Today, we won because of our services and good blocks. The attacks also worked well”, said Radovan Gacic, Head Coach ACH Volley Ljubljana
“ACH Volley won because of their good and powerful services. Unfortunately, we had a bad reception”, said Pavel Bartos, Captain of Union Raiffeisen Waldviertel
Man Of The Match:
Pavel Bartos, Setter and Captain of the “Nordmänner”, and Jani Kovacic, Libero of ACH Volley, were elected the Most Valuable Players (MVPs) of tonight’s match.
The second match of the tournament’s first day was between HAOK Mladost Zagreb (Cro) and Rieker UJS Komarno (SVK). Both teams met on equal terms at the beginning of the first set, but the Croats pulled away from their opponents and finished with a clear-cut 25:16.
In the second set, both teams played a strong, fast game. Long rallies often ended with the better end for Zagreb, and Komarno was unable to counteract Zagreb’s powerful services. After only 21 minutes, this set came to an end with a score of 25:14.
The spectators in the Stadthalle Zwettl saw maximum effort on both sides and it was impossible to guess who would emerge as the winner of this set. On the home stretch of the third set, the Croats played more consistently and thus ended their first appearance at the MEVZA tournament in the Stadthalle with a 25:22 victory.
“I started with two young players, hoping that they would play well, with emotion and courage. They did not do so during the first two sets. In the third set, I rearranged the team, but altogether it was a bad game”, said Gabriel Chocholak, Coach of Komarno.
“This playing mode is a new competition for all of us. For our team, it was an important victory, but the important games are yet to come”, said Clemens Ecker from Zagreb.
Match dates:
Union Raiffeisen Waldviertel vs. HAOK Mladost Zagreb, MEVZA Wednesday, 2.11.2022; 19.00, Zwettl – Stadthalle –
(before at 16.30 Uhr in the Stadthalle Zwettl: ACH Volley Ljubljana (SLO) vs. Rieker UJS Komarno (SVK))
Union Raiffeisen Waldviertel vs. VK Spartak UJS Komarno, MEVZA Thursday, 3.11.2022; 19.00, Zwettl – Stadthalle
(before at 16.30 Uhr ACH Volley vs. Mladost Zagreb in the Stadthalle Zwettl)
