18.09.2021, Katowice, Spodek Volleyball, Europameisterschaft / Eurovolley 2021, Halbfinale, Polen (POL) vs. Slowenien (SLO) Foto: Conny Kurth / www.kurth-media.de
Slovenia and Italy will clash for the men’s CEV EuroVolley 2021 title on Sunday. Slovenia booked the first spot in the gold medal match after an epic nail-biting victory over hosts Poland. After a semifinal battle that lasted well over two and a half hours, coach Alberto Giuliani’s squad celebrated with a 3-1 (17-25, 32-30, 25-16, 37-35) win, which sent Slovenia to their third continental final, after 2015 and 2019. This was the fourth consecutive European Championship, in which Poland were eliminated by the very same opponent. Later on Saturday, Italy produced a 3-1 (29-27, 25-22, 23-25, 25-18) upset of defending champs Serbia to advance to their 11th final in EuroVolley history.
Triumphant Jan Kozamernik and Toncek Stern
At a sold-out Spodek Arena in Katowice, Slovenia took an early two-point lead. It didn’t last long. Cheered on by the enthusiastic home crowd, Poland scored seven consecutive points, with Jakub Kochanowski behind the serving line, to gain a 12-7 advantage. The Polish serves continued to create difficulties for the Slovenian reception and not only created opportunities for the Polish blockers, but Wilfredo Leon himself aced twice in a row for 21-14, before sub-in Lukasz Kaczmarek aced the 25-17 winner.
Slovenia improved their performance on all counts in set two. Poland recovered from the three-point deficit they had at 16-19, but then wasted a double set point to prompt a thrilling epilogue in set two. Spectacular rallies pushed it deep into overtime. Giuliani’s challenge reversed a referee call on Klemen Cebulj’s serve to reveal a line-grazing ace and give Slovenia another set point, which Toncek Stern’s spike converted to a 32-30 win.
The third set was completely one-sided. Riding the momentum, the Slovenes established total control on the court to cruise to a 25-16 blowout, shaped up with a blistering hammer from Alen Pajenk through the middle.
18.09.2021, Katowice, Spodek Volleyball, Europameisterschaft / Eurovolley 2021, Halbfinale, Polen (POL) vs. Slowenien (SLO) Foto: Conny Kurth / www.kurth-media.de
The fourth set offered 57 minutes of nip-and-tuck volleyball, where the lead swung from three points in favour of Slovenia to four in favour of Poland before a thrilling overtime, in which the visiting side were stopped from celebrating the victory twice by the video challenge, before finally rejoicing on a successful Toncek Stern hit for 37-35.
Toncek Stern and Wilfredo Leon shared the top scorer honours of the match with 20 points each.
“The games against Poland are always big battles and you don’t play such matches every day. It was a hard match, but we played as a team, one for all and all for one. We are happy that we won over Poland in front of their 12 or 13 thousand fans. Now we have to recover and prepare for the next match.”
Toncek Stern
Opposite of Slovenia
